It looks as though research efforts by the BC Healthy Connections Project team have paid off.

When the team began a research trial— involving 739 young mothers and their 731 children — researchers knew it would be a challenge to keep participants fully involved for the two-and-a-half years.

But interview completion rates were high for the five follow-up interviews: ranging from 80 to 91% across pregnancy and through until the children reached age two years.

As well, 99% of participants allowed the team to have access to official provincial data on their children’s wellbeing.

The trial, which started in 2011, was designed as a scientific evaluation of the Nurse-Family Partnership, a landmark US program focusing on children born to girls and young women who are facing disadvantages such as low income. The program starts early — in pregnancy, before children are even born — and involves intensive home visits from public health nurses.

For more information on the study team’s participation strategies, see their paper in Trials.