Maternal Early Childhood Sustained Home-Visiting Program (MECSH) Meets HHS Criteria

Model effectiveness research report last updated: 2023

In brief

Evidence of model effectiveness

Title General population Tribal population Domains with favorable effects
Maternal Early Childhood Sustained Home-Visiting Program (MECSH) Yes, Meets HHS Criteria Meets HHS criteria Does not meet HHS criteria for tribal population because the model has not been evaluated with a tribal population.
  • Child development and school readiness,
  • Child health,
  • Maternal health,
  • Positive parenting practices,

Model description

Developed in Australia, the Maternal Early Childhood Sustained Home-Visiting (MECSH) program is designed to enhance maternal and child outcomes by providing prenatal and postnatal services. The model can be adapted for systems outside of Australia and to meet local needs. MECSH serves parents or caregivers at risk of adverse parental and/or child health and development outcomes. Registered nurses with experience with and/or postgraduate training in child and family health conduct a minimum of 22 (for postnatal enrollment) to 25 (for prenatal enrollment) 60- to 90-minute home visits. Nurse home visitors deliver services until the child’s second birthday. During the visits, nurses focus on parent education, child development, parent-child relationships, maternal health and well-being, family relationships, goal setting, and other issues such as housing and finances. Also available are parenting groups, activities to link families to the community, and referrals to other specialized care (such as dietitians and drug and alcohol counselors).
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Extent of evidence

Results of search and review
Number of manuscripts
At least one finding was eligible for review…
6
  …and at least one finding rated high
2
  …and at least one finding rated moderate (but none rated high)
2
  …and all findings that were eligible for review rated low or indeterminate2
2
  …but manuscript is additional source3
0

1When an individual manuscript reports findings from multiple studies, HomVEE reviews each study as a distinct manuscript. In these rare instances, HomVEE counts that manuscript multiple times in this table, once for each study identified, screened, and reviewed by HomVEE.

2Manuscripts that receive a rating of indeterminate have findings that may rate moderate or high in response to additional information from the author. The indeterminate rating was applied to manuscripts beginning with the 2023 review.

3Additional sources have findings or details that perfectly overlap with another manuscript and are not rated.

For more information, see the research database. For more information on the criteria used to rate research, please see details of HomVEE’s methods and standards.
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Summary of findings

To see details on each finding HomVEE reviewed in well-designed research, click on the name of an outcome domain in the tables below. Findings rated low quality by HomVEE are not summarized here.

Outcomes
Findings

Outcome Child Development and School Readiness

Findings:
Favorable: 1
No effect: 5
Unfavorable or ambiguous: 0

Outcome Child Health

Findings:
Favorable: 2
No effect: 13
Unfavorable or ambiguous: 1

Outcome Family Economic Self-Sufficiency

Findings:
Favorable: 0
No effect: 2
Unfavorable or ambiguous: 0

Outcome Linkages and Referrals

Not measured

Outcome Maternal Health

Findings:
Favorable: 5
No effect: 26
Unfavorable or ambiguous: 0

Outcome Positive Parenting Practices

Findings:
Favorable: 4
No effect: 7
Unfavorable or ambiguous: 0

Outcome Reductions in Child Maltreatment

Not measured

Outcome Reductions in Juvenile Delinquency, Family Violence, and Crime

Not measured

The section above focuses on findings from the full sample in a study. Subgroups that have been replicated in distinct samples also have findings reported above. HomVEE does not report the findings of non-replicated subgroups. Beginning with research reviewed in 2021, however, HomVEE lists those subgroups on the details page of each manuscript that had at least one finding that rated moderate or high.

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Criteria established by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services

Information based on comprehensive review of all high- and moderate-rated manuscripts
CriterionCriterion descriptionCriterion met?
1High- or moderate-quality impact study?Yes
2Across high- or moderate-quality studies, favorable impacts in at least two outcome domains within one sample OR the same domain for at least two non-overlapping samples?Yes
3Favorable impacts on full sample?Yes
4Any favorable impacts on outcome measures sustained at least 12 months after model enrollment?
Reported for all research but only required for RCTs.		Yes
5One or more favorable, statistically significant impact reported in a peer-reviewed journal?
Reported for all research but only required for RCTs.		Yes

Notes: If the model does not meet criterion 3 but meets criteria 1 and 2 based on findings from subgroups, the impacts must be replicated in the same domain in two or more studies using non-overlapping analytic study samples. HomVEE assesses and reports criteria 4 and 5 for all models that have well-designed research, but meeting those two criteria is only required of models for which all findings are from randomized controlled trials. Please read the HHS criteria for evidence-based models for more information.

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