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Knowledge Centre for the Health Services at The Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH): NIPH Systematic Reviews: Executive Summaries [Internet].

The Effect of Interventions for At-Risk Families with Children 0-6 Years

Report from Norwegian Knowledge Centre for the Health Services (NOKC) No. 27-2015

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November 2015

The Norwegian Directorate for Children, Youth and Family Affairs works to improve services for vulnerable infants and toddlers. This report is an overview of systematic reviews that have examined the effects of interventions for at-risk families with children aged 0-6 years. We included nine systematic reviews. The results of our systematic review shows that:

  • Psychotherapy for mothers with depression leads to better interaction between mother and child and better mental health of both mother and child. The documentation is of low quality.
  • Psychotherapy for mother and infant has a positive effect on the child's attachment to the mother. The documentation is of low quality.
  • Parent training/guidance to parents struggling with parenting has a positive effect on the parent-child relationship. The documentation is of low quality.
  • Home visits for mothers with substance abuse problems have little or no effect on maternal substance abuse, behavioral problems in the child or outcomes related to child abuse/neglect. The documentation is of low quality.
  • Small financial interventions have little or no effect on whether children are exposed to physical harm in the family. The intervention shows no effect on the child's behavior or development. The documentation is of medium to low quality.

Both psychotherapy for mothers, psychotherapy for mothers and infants, and parent training / guidance improve interaction and attachment between mother and child. Parental training / guidance that is well adapted to the group receiving the intervention seems to have a better effect on child outcomes than more general parenting interventions. Home visits seem to have better effect on outcomes for the child and parents if it’s started early, the provider is well trained to assist the relevant families, the intervention is delivered over a period of time and focus on a few challenges rather than a range of challenges. Small financial interventions do not seem promising. A larger amount of money could perhaps have better effect.

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Copyright ©2015 by The Norwegian Institute of Public Health (NIPH). All content is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International license (CC BY-NC-ND).
Bookshelf ID: NBK390566, PMID: 28510401, ISBN: 978-82-93479-03-1, ISSN: 1890-1298

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