BC Healthy Connections Project Publications

Accepted / Forthcoming

Delivering enhanced programming as intended has greater child benefits

• Catherine, N.L.A., Zheng, Y., Xie, H., Boyle, M., Jack, S., MacMillan, H., & Waddell, C. (Forthcoming). Effectiveness of Nurse-Family Partnership on child outcomes by patterns of program intensity: Secondary evidence from a randomized controlled trial (British Columbia Healthy Connections Project). Child Abuse & Neglect.

BCHCP RCT methods and measures

• De Rubeis, V., Tonmyr, L., Masako, T., Afifi, T., Catherine, N.L.A., Osorio, A., MacMillan, H.L., & Gonzalez, A. (Forthcoming). The psychometric properties of childhood physical and sexual abuse measures in two Canadian samples of youth and emerging adults. PLoS ONE.

Published

Effectiveness of enhanced programming for young, first-time mothers and children in BC, Canada

• Catherine, N.L.A., MacMillan, H., Jack, S., Zheng, Y., Xie, H., Boyle, M., Sheehan, D., Gonzalez, A., Gafni, A., Tonmyr, L., Barr, R., Marcellus, L., Varcoe, C., & Waddell, C. (2025). Effects of nurse-home visiting on intimate partner violence and maternal income, mental health and self-efficacy by 24 months postpartum: a randomised controlled trial (British Columbia Healthy Connections Project). British Medical Journal Open, 15, e083147. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2023-083147
• Catherine, N.L.A., MacMillan, H., Cullen, A., Zheng, Y., Xie, H., Boyle, M., Sheehan, D., Lever, R., Jack, S. M., Gonzalez, A., Gafni, A., Tonmyr, L., Barr, R., Marcellus, L., Varcoe, C., & Waddell, C. (2023). Effectiveness of nurse-home visiting in improving child and maternal outcomes prenatally to age two years: A randomised controlled trial (British Columbia Healthy Connections Project). Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry, 65, 644 – 655. https://doi.org/10.1111/jcpp.13846
• Catherine, N.L.A., Boyle, M., Zheng, Y., McCandless, L., Xie, H., Lever, R., Sheehan, D., Gonzalez, A., Jack, S.M., Gafni, A., Tonmyr, L., Marcellus, L., Varcoe, C., Cullen, A., Hjertaas, K., Riebe, C., Rikert, N., Sunthoram, A., Barr, R.G., MacMillan, H., Waddell, C. (2020). Nurse home visiting and prenatal substance use in a socioeconomically disadvantaged population in British Columbia: Analysis of a prenatal secondary outcomes in an ongoing randomized controlled trial. Canadian Medical Association Journal Open, 8, E667–E675. https://doi.org/10.9778/cmajo.20200063

Reach and inclusion of Urban-Indigenous children and mothers across BC

• Catherine, N.L.A., Leason, J, Marsden N, Barker B, Cullen A, Simpson A, Berry B.A., Mohns E, Yung D, Zhen Y, MacMillan H., & Waddell C. (2025). Understanding the experiences of young, urban, Indigenous mothers-to-be in British Columbia, Canada. BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth, 25(1), 42. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12884-024-07070-1

Effective home visiting programs for children and mothers experiencing adversities

• Catherine N, Barican J, White O, Tang J, Thomson K, & Waddell C (2024). Effective Home Visiting Programs for Children and Mothers Experiencing Adversities. Vancouver, British Columbia: Children’s Health Policy Centre, Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University.

Inclusion and sustained engagement of children and mothers across BC

• Catherine, N.L.A., Hjertaas, K., Cullen, A., Zheng, Y., Amhaz, H., Lever, R., Gray-Grant, D., Waddell, C. (2021). Reaching Underserved Children and Families: Lessons from the BC Healthy Connections Project. Vancouver, BC: Children’s Health Policy Centre, Faculty of Health Sciences, Simon Fraser University.
• Catherine, N.L.A., Lever, R., Marcellus, L., Tallon, C., Sheehan, D., MacMillan, H., Gonzalez, A., Jack, S.M., Waddell, C. (2020). Retaining participants in community-based health research: A case example on standardized planning and reporting. Trials, 21, 393–405. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13063-020-04328-9
• Catherine, N.L.A., Lever, R., Sheehan, D, Zheng, Y., Boyle, M., McCandless, L., Gafni, A., Gonzalez, A., Jack, S.M., Tonmyr, L., Varcoe, C., MacMillan, H., Waddell, C. (2019). The British Columbia Healthy Connections Project: Findings on socioeconomic disadvantage in early pregnancy. BMC Public Health, 19, 1161–1171. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12889-019-7479-5

BCHCP RCT study design and protocol

• Catherine N.L.A., Gonzalez, A., Boyle, M., Sheehan, D., Jack, S.M., Hougham, K., McCandless, L., MacMillan H., Waddell, C., for the BC Healthy Connections Project Scientific Team. (2016). Improving children’s health and development in British Columbia through nurse home visiting: A randomized controlled trial protocol. BMC Health Services Research, 16, 349–362. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12913-016-1594-0

BCHCP process evaluation

• Marcellus, L., Tonmyr, L., Jack, S.M., Gonzalez, A., Sheehan, D., Varcoe, C., Kurtz Landy, C., Campbell, K., Catherine, N., MacMillan, H., & Waddell, C. (2022). Public health nurses’ perceptions of their interactions with child protection services when supporting socioeconomically disadvantaged young mothers in British Columbia, Canada. Child Abuse & Neglect, 124, 105426. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2021.105426
• Jack, S.M., Gonzalez, A., Marcellus, L., Tonmyr, L., Varcoe, C., Van Borek, N., Sheehan, D., MacKinnon, K., Campbell, K., Catherine, N.L.A., Kurtz Landy, C., MacMillan, H., Waddell, C. (2021). Public health nurses’ professional practices to prevent, recognize, and respond to suspected child maltreatment in home visiting: An interpretive descriptive study. Global Qualitative Nursing Research, 8, 1–15. https://doi.org/10.1177/2333393621993450
• Campbell, K., MacKinnon, K., Dobbins, M., Van Borek, N., Jack, S., Catherine, N.L.A., Gonzalez, A., Kurtz Landy, C., MacMillan, H., Marcellus, L., Sheehan, D., Tonmyr, L., Varcoe, C., Waddell, C. (2019). Weathering the rural reality: Delivery of the Nurse-Family Partnership home visitation program in rural British Columbia, Canada. BMC Nursing, 18, e1–14. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12912-019-0341-3
• BCHCP Process Evaluation Final Reports hosted at McMaster University School of Nursing

BCHCP Healthy Foundations Study

• Gonzalez, A., Catherine, N.L.A., Boyle, M., Jack, S.M., Atkinson, L., Kabor, M., Sheehan, D., Tonmyr, L., Waddell, C., MacMillan, H., for the Healthy Foundations Study Team. (2018). Healthy Foundations Study: A randomized controlled trial to evaluate biological embedding of early life experiences. BMJ Open, 8, 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjopen-2017-018915

Training Manuals

The aim of the following training manuals is to inform health researchers, research trainees and students conducting long-term research with populations experiencing socioeconomic disadvantage. This body of work highlights the team’s knowledge and expertise collected over eight years in conducting more than 3,700 in-person and telephone research interviews with 739 girls and young women and their 737 children who were experiencing socioeconomic disadvantage

Part 1: Field Interviewer Hiring and Training

Part 2: Interview Preparation and Risk Mitigation

Part 3: Questionnaire Administration

Part 4: Data Collection Considerations

Part 5: The Field Interviewer Role