Using public health strategies to shape early childhood policy.

There is clear evidence that ensuring safe, stimulating, and nurturing caregiving environments for young children may be one of the most impactful health promotion strategies available, with lifelong and intergenerational benefits. Supports and interventions in the early years of life may in fact be the most effective way to improve school performance, increase high school graduation rates, job performance, and adult productivity. A public health approach to early childhood well-being, as opposed to the needs of children being addressed in multiple siloes, may be a more effective strategy that will lead to smarter investments and increasing financial commitments.

The process and promise of mental health augmentation of nurse home-visiting programs: Data from the Louisiana Nurse-Family Partnership.

The Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) model is a well-studied and effective preventive intervention program targeting first-time, impoverished mothers and their families. Data documenting the negative impact of maternal depression and partner violence on the developing young child can be used to make a strong case for augmenting NFP programs to focus on mental health problems impacting the mother-child relationship. This article reviews the rationale for and process of augmenting an NFP program in Louisiana.

Nurse home visiting: Perspectives from nurses.

Nurses working in the Nurse Family Partnership (NFP) program provide intensive home-visitation services for first-time, low-income mothers. The goals are to improve maternal health outcomes, child health and development outcomes, and to enhance maternal life-course development; however, many of the families face significant psychosocial and mental health issues that can impede progress achieving their goals. Because of the importance of the nurse-client relationship in achieving positive outcomes, these non-mental-health nurses must shift their approaches and techniques from a medical to a psychosocial model.