Two new, peer-reviewed studies find that 12 years after participating in the Nurse-Family Partnership public health program (NFP), nurse-visited mothers cost the government less on food stamps, Medicaid and other assistance programs, reported longer relationships with their partners and had a greater sense of "maternal mastery." 

The research also shows children of these nurse-visited mothers had higher academic test scores, less tobacco, drug or alcohol use, and had lower rates of anxiety and depression than control subjects.

The papers are published in the May 2010 edition of Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine.

One paper, "Enduring Effects of Prenatal and Infancy Home Visiting by Nurses on Maternal Life Course and Government Spending," involved 594 interviews and 613 record reviews for nurse-visited and control-group Memphis mothers when their firstborn child was 12 years old.

Compared to control subjects, nurse-visited mothers stayed in relationships with their partners more than seven months longer on average, reported less alcohol-and drug-related impairment in carrying out maternal responsibilities, and felt a greater sense of mastery in managing their lives.

Moreover, these women incurred $1,025 less per year on average in food stamp, Medicaid and other government assistance (in 2006 dollars). This confirms several past independent analyses showing the NFP program provides a significant return on investment to communities, according to the researchers.

In the other study, "Enduring Effects of Prenatal & Infancy Home Visiting by Nurses on Children," the researchers interviewed and reviewed records of 191 firstborn 12-year-olds whose mothers participated in NFP, and compared them to 422 children whose mothers had been assigned at random to a control group during their mothers' pregnancies.

The number of nurse-visited children using cigarettes, alcohol or marijuana was several times less than control subjects, and nurse-visited children reported less anxiety or depression (22 percent versus 31 percent). Nurse-visited children born to women with low psychological resources (an aggregate of mental health characteristics) also scored several points higher, on average, on multiple standardized math and reading tests.

The studies examined other markers among both mothers and children with varied results. For example, the researchers did not find statistically significant differences between nurse-visited children and control subjects 12 years later in terms of overall behavioral problems, and no significant effects were seen on mothers' marital status, intimate partner violence, arrest rates and other markers. In some situations, raw numbers were too low to compare with statistical confidence.