Nurse home visits for infants and toddlers of low-income families improve behavioural, language and attention outcomes at age 6-9 years; paraprofessional visits improve visual attention and task switching.

Implications for practice and research: Infant home visiting can be efficacious in improving child developmental outcomes throughout early childhood. Home visiting by trained nurses produce positive outcomes, whereas outcomes for paraprofessionals are mixed. This study suggests that future research should be directed towards understanding how nurses have a more positive impact on mothers and their children than paraprofessionals.

Duke Scholars

Author Kenneth A. Dodge Sanford School of Public Policy