Preventing Child Maltreatment and Crime with Prenatal and Infancy Support of Parents: The Nurse-Family Partnership
Open accessAbstract
Pregnancy and the early years of the child's life offer an opportune time to prevent a host of adverse maternal and child outcomes that are important in their own right, but that also have significant implications for the development of criminal behaviour. This paper summarizes a 30-year programme of research that has attempted to improve the health and development of mothers and infants and their future life prospects with prenatal and infancy home visiting by nurses. The programme, known today as the Nurse-Family Partnership, is designed for low-income mothers who have had no previous live births. The home visiting nurses have three major goals: to improve the outcomes of pregnancy by helping women improve their prenatal health; to improve the child's health and development by helping parents provide more sensitive and competent care of the child; and to improve parental life-course by helping parents plan future pregnancies, complete their educations, and find work. Given consistent effects on prenatal health behaviours, parental care of the child, child abuse and neglect, child health and development, maternal life-course, and criminal involvement of the mothers and children, the programme is now being offered for public investment throughout the United States, where careful attention is being given to ensuring that the programme is being conducted in accordance with the programme model tested in the randomized trials. The programme also is being adapted, developed, and tested in five countries outside of the US: the Netherlands, Germany, England, Australia, and Canada, where programmatic adjustments are being made to accommodate different populations served and health and human service contexts. We believe it is important to test this programme in randomized controlled trials in these new settings before it is offered for public investment.
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Among the children, the Nurse-Family Partnership led to a reduction in childhood injuries, substance use and juvenile crime.
“Among the children, the program led to a reduction in childhood injuries, substance use and juvenile crime [82,84].”
From Reducing Racial Inequities in Health: Using What We Already Know to Take Action (2019) · cites this paper as [84]
For mothers, the Nurse-Family Partnership led to lower smoking during pregnancy, fewer subsequent pregnancies, increased labor force participation, reduced use of public assistance programs, and lower rates of child abuse and neglect.
“For mothers, the NFP led to lower smoking during pregnancy, fewer subsequent pregnancies, increased labor force participation, reduced use of public assistance programs, and lower rates of child abuse and neglect.”
From Reducing Racial Inequities in Health: Using What We Already Know to Take Action (2019) · cites this paper as [84]
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References 81 · Cited by 100
Research works printed but not linked: 9
- Bowlby J Attachment and Loss 1969 Vol. 1. Attachment Basic Books New York
- Furstenberg FF Brooks-Gunn J Morgan SP Adolescent Mothers in Later Life 1987 Cambridge University Press Cambridge
- Grant KE O’Koon JH Davis TH Roache NA Poindexter LM Armstrong ML Minden JA McIntosh JM Protective Factors Affecting Low-Income Urban African American Youth Exposed to Stress Journal of Early Adolescence 2000 20 388 417
- Mayes LC Neurobiology of Prenatal Cocaine Exposure: Effect on Developing Monoamine Systems Infant Mental Health Journal 1994 15 121 133
- Olds DL Tobacco Exposure and Impaired Development: A Review of the Evidence Mental Retardation and Developmental Disabilities Research Reviews 1997 3 257 269
- Olds DL Preventing Crime with Prenatal and Infancy Support of Parents: The Nurse-Family Partnership Victims and Offenders 2007 2 205 225 PMC2946620 20885797
- Olds DL Eckenrode J Henderson CR Jr Kitzman H Powers J Cole R Sidora K Morris P Pettitt LM Luckey D Long-Term Effects of Home Visitation on Maternal Life Course and Child Abuse and Neglect. Fifteen-Year Follow-up of a Randomized Trial Journal of the American Medical Association 1997 278 637 643 9272895
- Peterson L Gable S Lutzker JR Holistic injury prevention Handbook of Child Abuse Research and Treatment 1998 Plenum Press New York
- Streissguth AP Sampson PD Barr HM Bookstein FL Olson HC Needleman HL Bellinger D The effects of prenatal exposure to alcohol and tobacco: contributions from the Seattle longitudinal prospective study and implications for public policy Prenatal Exposure to Toxicants: Developmental Consequences 1994 Johns Hopkins University Press Baltimore
- Authors
- Olds, D. L.
- Affiliations
- University of Colorado Denver (US)
- Corresponding author
- Olds, David L.
- Venue
- Journal of Scandinavian Studies in Criminology and Crime Prevention
- Publisher
- Scandinavian University Press
- Published
- 2008-12
- Volume
- 9
- Issue
- sup01
- Pages
- 2-24
- ISSN
- 1404-3858 (ISSN-L)
- 1651-2340
- PMC
- PMC2946620
- OpenAlex
- W2121852730
- Cited by
- 100
- References
- 81
- Citations by year
- 2026: 2 · 2025: 6 · 2024: 5 · 2023: 10 · 2022: 5 · 2021: 8 · 2020: 10 · 2019: 8 · 2018: 6 · 2017: 4 · 2016: 7 · 2015: 6 · 2014: 5 · 2013: 4 · 2012: 9
- FWCI
- 3.22
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov
- Locations
- Journal of Scandinavian Studies in Criminology and Crime Prevention (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- PubMed Central (acceptedVersion)
- Funders
- National Institute of Mental Health (K05MH001382)
- National Institute on Drug Abuse (R01DA021624)
- National Institute of Nursing Research (R01NR001691)
- Topics
- Health Sciences › Health Professions › General Health Professions › Maternal and Neonatal Healthcare
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Homicide, Infanticide, and Child Abuse
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Crime Patterns and Interventions
- Keywords
- Nurse-Family Partnership, child abuse prevention, child abuse, low-income mothers, maternal health, child development, criminal behavior, program adaptation, randomized controlled trials
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