Some 50 babies have now been born to moms enrolled in the BC Healthy Connections Project (BCHCP).
Every baby is a miracle. But these 50 are extra-special miracles because they herald the launch of an exciting new research project.
They are all part of phase 1 of the BCHCP that started in the summer of 2012. “The goal is for BC public health nurses to practise and consolidate their newly acquired skills,” says Nicole Catherine, Scientific Director for BCHCP.
The purpose of BCHCP is to conduct a scientific evaluation of the Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) prevention program. Developed by David Olds in the United States more than 30 years ago, NFP involves nurses visiting young mothers in their homes, starting prenatally and continuing until children are two years old.
NFP’s creators had three primary goals for the program: improving prenatal outcomes, preventing child maltreatment, and enhancing parental competence and economic self-sufficiency. Because NFP was always intended as a targeted primary prevention program, the developers focused on high-risk, low-income, first-time mothers. NFP has been shown to reduce child maltreatment and antisocial behaviour while also improving child and maternal mental health over the long term.
But the question remains: can this success be repeated in Canada?
