Canadian Nurse Family Partnership

NFP Logo The Nurse-Family Partnership is a program of prenatal and infancy home visiting for young, socially disadvantaged, first-time mothers. This nurse home visitation program has been evaluated in three randomized controlled trials in the US. A summary of the evidence supporting the Nurse-Family Partnership program can be accessed through www.nursefamilypartnership.org.

Canadian Nurse-Family Partnership

The goals of the Nurse-Family Partnership Program are:

To improve pregnancy outcomes
To improve child health and development
To improve parental life-course

This evidence-based public health intervention has been systematically evaluated in the United States where consistent program effects have been demonstrated. We are now working to adapt and evaluate Nurse-Family Partnership in the Canadian context.

Program Adaptation

Implementation of the Nurse-Family Partnership program by Canadian public health agencies requires fidelity to the program's core model elements. In Canada, a team of researchers at McMaster University are working collaboratively with public health nurses, supervisors and other stakeholders in Ontario and British Columbia to adapt all program materials to meet the needs of Canadian mothers and their families. This will include the adaption or development of:

Canadian Nurse-Family Partnership Core Model Elements
Canadian Visit-to-Visit Guidelines
Canadian Home Visitation Facilitators and Instructions for Public Health Nurses
Canadian Model of Nurse-Family Partnership Education for Public Health Nurses and Supervisors

Feasibility and Acceptability Pilot Study

From 2008-2012, in a collaboration between McMaster University and the City of Hamilton Public Health Services, a pilot study to determine the feasibility and acceptability of delivering the Nurse-Family Partnership program to Ontario families was completed. Results from this study demonstrated that it was feasible to provide the program through public health units; have public health nurses deliver the intervention; receive appropriate referrals from community partners and successfully enrol eligible pregnant women. The program was also found to be highly acceptable to enrolled pregnant women and mothers with young children, their family members, community stakeholders and the nurses providing the home visits.

British Columbia Healthy Connections Projects

A scientific evaluation- the British Columbia Healthy Connections Project (BCHCP)- of the Nurse-Family Partnership is currently ongoing. The BCHCP consists of three evaluation components:

A large-scale randomized controlled trial to evaluate the effectiveness of Nurse-Family Partnership compared to existing services in reducing childhood injuries (primary outcome). The Children's Health Policy Centre at Simon Fraser, along with collaborators from McMaster University, is leading this project. The BCHCP randomized controlled trial is funded by the BC Ministry of Health, with support from the BC Ministry of Children and Family Development and five participating BC Health Authorities. The Nurse-Family Partnership will only be available to families through the BCHCP while we are conducting this scientific evaluation.
A process evaluation to describe and compare the process for implementing and delivering Nurse-Family Partnership across BC's five participating health authorities. This study will also involve exploring how Nurse-Family Partnership can be adapted to meet the needs of families in rural or remote communities. The BCHCP process evaluation is funded through the Public Health Agency of Canada, with support from the BC Ministries of Health, and Children and Family Development.
The Healthy Foundations Study, led by Dr. Andrea Gonzalez (Department of Psychiatry and Behavioural Neurosciences, McMaster University), to examine potential biological mechanisms linking intervention and behavioural outcomes in the children. This innovative project, funded by the Canadian Institutes of Health Research, will allow us to explore the impact of preventive interventions longitudinally on biological outcomes in mothers and their children, and to assess if an intervention such as Nurse-Family Partnership can potentially reverse the biological embedding of disease.
For more information on implementing or evaluating Nurse-Family Partnership in Canada, please contact Dr. Susan Jack (jacksm@mcmaster.ca), School of Nursing, McMaster University or Dr. Harriet MacMillan (macmilnh@mcmaster.ca), Offord Centre for Child Studies, McMaster University.

In the News

Hear Dr. Susan Jack & Dr. Andrea Gonzalez speak about evaluating Nurse-Family Partnership in Canada (video)

Grassroots nursing for impoverished parents featuring NFP

Mothers' experiences in the Nurse-Family Partnership Program. BMC Nursing

Adaptation and implementation of the Nurse-Family Partnership in Canada. Canadian Journal of Public Health, 103(Suppl.1): S42-S48

British Columbia Healthy Connections Process Evaluation Communiques

Communique 1 October 30, 2014

Communique 2 Public Health Nurse Nurse-Family Partnership Education February 26, 2015

Communique 3 Nurse-Family Partnership Education (Supervisors) April 8, 2015

Communique 4 Nurse-Family Partnership Education (DANCE) April 9, 2015

Communique 5 Nurse-‐Family Partnership Intimate Partner Violence Public Health Nurse & Supervisor Education September 14, 2015

Communique 6 Nurse-‐Family Partnership Intimate Partner Violence Intervention – Clinical
Impact September 14, 2015

Communique 7 Organizational Capacity – Impact on Implementation of Nurse-Family Partnership October 16, 2015

Communique 8 Implementation of Core Model Element #6 – Client is Visited in her Home December 31, 2015