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Research results from the independent evaluation of our Home Visiting programme have shown that it significantly improves children’s usage of health services – reducing use of hospital services by 37% and making attendances more appropriate.

 

The second in a series of results announced by Preparing for Life / Northside Partnership today and showed that children who received our parent mentoring programme attended an Emergency Department three times on average by age four, compared to five times among the children who didn’t receive the programme.

 

The intervention group children were less likely to be discharged from the Emergency Department as having no medical problem or injury.

 

The study also found that children whose families received the programme were less likely to be treated for a fracture. By age four, 5% had been treated for a fracture compared to 18% among the control group.

 

The intervention children also used fewer follow on hospital services such as x-rays and consultant visits and were less likely to have ever attended outpatient services such as orthopaedic services (24% compared to 38%), or physiotherapy services (0% compared to 12%).

 

The Children’s Health Study was conducted in collaboration with Professor Alf Nicholson from Temple Street Children’s University Hospital and examined data on hospital visits, service usage and diagnoses for children taking part in Preparing for Life.

 

Lead researcher for the study, Dr. Orla Doyle of the School of Economics/Geary Institute for Public Policy at University College Dublin said the results have significant implications for health services. “The results show that providing the Preparing for Life intervention improves children’s health, while also potentially reducing both hospital waiting lists and health service costs.”

 

The Preparing for Life study included 233 parents who were randomly allocated into an intervention group or control group. All families received some supports, but the families in the intervention group received intensive parenting supports from pregnancy until their children started Primary School.

 

The intervention was delivered in Dublin 17 and Dublin 5 where low levels of school readiness had been identified. It has been delivered by Preparing for Life, a part of the Northside Partnership, and evaluated by a team at the UCD based Geary Institute for Public Policy using a randomised control trial.

 

Parents taking part received approximately 50 home visits from trained mentors during the programme cycle. The programme supported parents at each stage of their child’s development by providing tip sheets on age appropriate topics.

 

Mentors introduced new topics through a combination of role modelling, demonstration, coaching, discussion, encouragement and feedback. The parents also had the opportunity to participate in a Triple P positive parenting course when their children reached age two.

 

 

The launch also included a detailed analysis of the impact of providing the programme on children’s school readiness skills upon entering Junior Infants. Particular gains were identified in numeracy, with 62% of the intervention children considered to be on track at Maths compared to 44% among the control group. 

 

The children were also identified as being less disruptive and distractible in Junior Infants, with 16% rated as hyperactive and inattentive compared to 31% in the control group.

 

Teachers considered 75% of the PFL children to be on track in terms of their social competence compared to 57% while 79% of PFL children were assessed to be on track in their communication skills compared to 61% among the control group.

 

Dr. Doyle said that the overall rating for school readiness in the PFL communities where it was delivered had increased during the period of the intervention from 50% in 2009 to 66% in 2015.

 

A launch of other reports from the Preparing for Life evaluation last month also showed strong evidence of the programme’s effectiveness. It showed that by age four the IQ scores of the intervention group children were 10 points higher than the control group. It also showed a lower rate of being overweight (23% compared to 41%).

 

Preparing for Life Manager Noel Kelly said the home visiting programme was ready to be replicated in other communities and is not excessively expensive.

 

“Now that Preparing for Life has been developed, trialled, evaluated and manualised we estimate that it would cost at most €2,000 per family per year to deliver.

 

“Investment in supports for parents should be channelled towards programmes which have the strongest evidence of effectiveness and impact. The Minister for Children and Youth Affairs, Katherine Zappone, and decision makers in her Department should adopt Preparing for Life as a proven intervention to be applied in other communities faced with school readiness challenges.

 

“We believe that parents are the most important resource we have to improve child outcomes. By investing in and enabling parents, Preparing for Life has demonstrated that it is possible to significantly transform children’s lives,” he said.

 

Preparing for Life is a community-led prevention and early intervention initiative operated by Northside Partnership. It was established in 2007 with funding from The Atlantic Philanthropies and the Department of Children and Youth Affairs through the Prevention and Early Intervention Programme (PEIP). Preparing for Life recently received a further allocation of funding from both funders to continue its work until August 2017.