Due to the significant influence of child health on other developmental outcomes, some of the early childhood home visiting models in the HomVEE review address the promotion of child health in some way. Models that begin during a mother’s pregnancy aim to improve birth outcomes by linking mothers to prenatal health care and providing them with information about fetal development. Following the birth of the child, programs ensure that children have access to health care, receive appropriate well-child care and immunizations, and receive appropriate medical care for illnesses and injuries. Some programs also provide information to parents about ways to support physical health, such as the importance of nutritious meals and physical activity.

Child health
In brief
Measurement considerations
Measures of a child’s growth, physical health, and use of health services (such as immunizations) are all included in this domain. Outcome measures in this domain are birth outcomes and counts of health care service use extracted from medical records. Other outcome measures are based on parent reports about children’s health and use of health care services. It is also important to note that some unfavorable or ambiguous outcomes, such as number of days hospitalized, may be due to increased access to health care. In other words, families’ participation in the home visiting program may have increased the likelihood that they would receive needed health care services.
Diet and feeding measures belong in this domain. One related outcome, the Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Scale, belongs in the positive parenting practices domain instead because it measures the parent’s attitudes.
Child mental and behavioral health do not belong in this domain. HomVEE categorizes measures of children’s mental and behavioral health in the child development and school readiness domain, in contrast to the measures of physical health that are reported in the child health domain.
Health care encounters due to injuries and ingestions do not belong in this domain. Most health care encounters for children belong in the child health domain. However, health care encounters that may occur specifically as a result of child maltreatment, such as treatment for injuries or ingestions, are placed in the reductions in child maltreatment domain.
Health insurance coverage does not belong in this domain. HomVEE places access to health insurance, for both the child and mother, in the family economic self-sufficiency domain.
Review of research
The HomVEE review examined the research on 50 models with studies published in 1979 through 2019. (HomVEE counts related versions, commonly referred to as adaptations, together in this section and in the table below. More information is available in the procedures and standards handbook. Of the 19 models with manuscripts about high- or moderate-quality studies that measured outcomes in this domain, 14 had favorable effects.
Summary of findings
The effects shown in the research are grouped into four categories: (1) favorable, (2) no effect, (3) unfavorable or ambiguous, and (4) not measured. Results for models that only have low-rated research are listed as “not applicable.” For more information on these categories please read the procedures and standards handbook. Only results from manuscripts that receive a moderate or high rating are considered below. This table includes manuscripts links to more information on the model’s effectiveness, implementation, and details on findings in this domain.
Effects shown in research — Child health domain
Model | Meets HHS criteria | Findings | For more information |
---|---|---|---|
Attachment and Biobehavioral Catch-Up (ABC) -Infant |
Meets HHS criteria? Yes
|
Findings Favorable: 1 No effect: 0 Unfavorable or ambiguous: 0 |
For more information
|
Child First |
Meets HHS criteria? Yes
|
Findings Not measured
|
For more information
|
Child Parent Enrichment Project (CPEP) |
Meets HHS criteria? No
|
Findings Favorable: 0 No effect: 4 Unfavorable or ambiguous: 0 |
For more information
|
Childhood Asthma Prevention Study (CAPS) |
Meets HHS criteria? No
|
Findings Favorable: 0 No effect: 4 Unfavorable or ambiguous: 0 |
For more information
|
Computer-Assisted Motivational Intervention (CAMI) |
Meets HHS criteria? No
|
Findings Not measured
|
For more information
|
Early Head Start Home-Based Option |
Meets HHS criteria? Yes
|
Findings Favorable: 0 No effect: 14 Unfavorable or ambiguous: 0 |
For more information
|
Early Intervention Program for Adolescent Mothers |
Meets HHS criteria? Yes
|
Findings Favorable: 8 No effect: 10 Unfavorable or ambiguous: 0 |
For more information
|
Early Start (New Zealand) |
Meets HHS criteria? Yes
|
Findings Favorable: 3 No effect: 4 Unfavorable or ambiguous: 0 |
For more information
|
Early Steps to School Success™—Home Visiting |
Meets HHS criteria? No
|
Findings Not measured
|
For more information
|
Even Start-Home Visiting (Birth to Age 5) |
Meets HHS criteria? No
|
Findings Not applicable
|
For more information
|
Family Check-Up® For Children |
Meets HHS criteria? Yes
|
Findings Not measured
|
For more information
|
Family Connections (Birth to Age 5) |
Meets HHS criteria? No
|
Findings Not applicable
|
For more information
|
Family Connects |
Meets HHS criteria? Yes
|
Findings Favorable: 9 No effect: 7 Unfavorable or ambiguous: 0 |
For more information
|
Family Spirit® |
Meets HHS criteria? Yes
|
Findings Not measured
|
For more information
|
Following Baby Back Home (FBBH) |
Meets HHS criteria? No
|
Findings Not measured
|
For more information
|
Health Access Nurturing Development Services (HANDS) Program |
Meets HHS criteria? Yes
|
Findings Favorable: 6 No effect: 3 Unfavorable or ambiguous: 0 |
For more information
|
HealthConnect One's® Community-Based Doula Program |
Meets HHS criteria? No
|
Findings Not measured
|
For more information
|
Healthy Beginnings |
Meets HHS criteria? Yes
|
Findings Favorable: 14 No effect: 10 Unfavorable or ambiguous: 0 |
For more information
|
Healthy Families America (HFA)® |
Meets HHS criteria? Yes
|
Findings Favorable: 7 No effect: 48 Unfavorable or ambiguous: 1 |
For more information
|
Healthy Steps (National Evaluation 1996 Protocol) |
Meets HHS criteria? Yes
|
Findings Favorable: 5 No effect: 11 Unfavorable or ambiguous: 2 |
For more information
|
Home Instruction for Parents of Preschool Youngsters (HIPPY)® |
Meets HHS criteria? Yes
|
Findings Not measured
|
For more information
|
Home-Start |
Meets HHS criteria? No
|
Findings Not measured
|
For more information
|
HOMEBUILDERS (Birth to Age 5)® |
Meets HHS criteria? No
|
Findings Not applicable
|
For more information
|
Maternal Early Childhood Sustained Home-Visiting Program (MECSH) |
Meets HHS criteria? Yes
|
Findings Favorable: 2 No effect: 9 Unfavorable or ambiguous: 0 |
For more information
|
Maternal Infant Health Outreach Worker (MIHOW)® |
Meets HHS criteria? No
|
Findings Favorable: 5 No effect: 11 Unfavorable or ambiguous: 4 |
For more information
|
Maternal Infant Health Program (MIHP) |
Meets HHS criteria? Yes
|
Findings Favorable: 7 No effect: 0 Unfavorable or ambiguous: 0 |
For more information
|
Minding the Baby® Home Visiting (MTB-HV) |
Meets HHS criteria? Yes
|
Findings Favorable: 1 No effect: 1 Unfavorable or ambiguous: 0 |
For more information
|
MOM Program |
Meets HHS criteria? No
|
Findings Not measured
|
For more information
|
Mothers’ Advocates in the Community (MOSAIC) |
Meets HHS criteria? No
|
Findings Not measured
|
For more information
|
North Carolina Baby Love Maternal Outreach Workers Program |
Meets HHS criteria? No
|
Findings Not measured
|
For more information
|
Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP)® |
Meets HHS criteria? Yes
|
Findings Favorable: 7 No effect: 40 Unfavorable or ambiguous: 2 |
For more information
|
Nurses for Newborns® |
Meets HHS criteria? No
|
Findings Not measured
|
For more information
|
Nurturing Parenting Programs (Birth to Age 5) |
Meets HHS criteria? No
|
Findings Not measured
|
For more information
|
Oklahoma’s Community-Based Family Resource and Support (CBFRS) Program |
Meets HHS criteria? Yes
|
Findings Favorable: 0 No effect: 3 Unfavorable or ambiguous: 0 |
For more information
|
Parent-Child Assistance Program (P-CAP) |
Meets HHS criteria? No
|
Findings Not measured
|
For more information
|
ParentChild+® Core Model |
Meets HHS criteria? No
|
Findings Not measured
|
For more information
|
Parents as Teachers (PAT)® |
Meets HHS criteria? Yes
|
Findings Favorable: 0 No effect: 23 Unfavorable or ambiguous: 0 |
For more information
|
Philani Outreach Programme |
Meets HHS criteria? No
|
Findings Not measured
|
For more information
|
Play and Learning Strategies (PALS) |
Meets HHS criteria? No
|
Findings Not measured
|
For more information
|
Play and Learning Strategies (PALS) Infant |
Meets HHS criteria? Yes
|
Findings Not measured
|
For more information
|
Pride in Parenting (PIP) |
Meets HHS criteria? No
|
Findings Not measured
|
For more information
|
Promoting First Relationships®—Home Visiting Option |
Meets HHS criteria? No
|
Findings Not measured
|
For more information
|
Promoting Parental Skills and Enhancing Attachment in Early Childhood (CAPEDP) Trial |
Meets HHS criteria? No
|
Findings Not measured
|
For more information
|
Resource Mothers Program |
Meets HHS criteria? No
|
Findings Not measured
|
For more information
|
Resources, Education, and Care in the Home (REACH) |
Meets HHS criteria? No
|
Findings Favorable: 1 No effect: 3 Unfavorable or ambiguous: 0 |
For more information
|
REST Routine |
Meets HHS criteria? No
|
Findings Not measured
|
For more information
|
SafeCare® |
Meets HHS criteria? No
|
Findings Not measured
|
For more information
|
SafeCare Augmented |
Meets HHS criteria? Yes
|
Findings Not measured
|
For more information
|
Seattle-King County Healthy Homes Project |
Meets HHS criteria? No
|
Findings Not applicable
|
For more information
|
Triple P - Positive Parenting Program®—Variants suitable for home visiting |
Meets HHS criteria? No
|
Findings Not measured
|
For more information
|
Video-Feedback Intervention to Promote Positive Parenting-Sensitive Discipline® (VIPP-SD) |
Meets HHS criteria? No
|
Findings Not measured
|
For more information
|