Children witnessing the intimate partner violence (IPV) of their mothers are known to have sedous long-term physical and mental health and behavioral consequences. While almost half of these children were less than 6 years old, little is known about appropriate interventions for very young children and their abused mothers. Building on the demonstrated positive effects of early home visitation models of providing care, this study proposes to incorporate routine screening for IPV and a structured IPV intervention into existing home visitation (HV) programs for young families expecting a child. Traditional home visitation and Olds model of home visitation programs will be examined using a two-group quasi experimental design with nurses randomized to provide a structured IPV intervention to pregnant/postpartum women or to provide standard care or usual care to women who disclose IPV. Home visitors (nurses and trained lay visitors) in each home visitation program will be randomized to the intervention or a comparison condition. There will be four groups of 60 families from an urban (2 groups) and rural (2 groups) home visitation settings. Mothers and infants plus one child less than 6 years (if there is one) in all families will be monitored at birth, 3 months, 6 months and then at 6-month intervals through 24 months. Maternal dependent measures include IPV, level of danger, and safety strategies as well as depression, parenting stress, high risk parenting, attachment, and perceived adaptability of the child (PSI). The infant plus one-index sibling dependent measures are physical and mental development (Bailey Infant Neurodevelopmental Screening) as well as physical and mental health problems. The study will provide intervention efficacy data as well as prospective information about patterns of IPV, maternal health, and infant and child development in homes where there is IPV. Analyses will include mixed linear models, ANCOVA and MANOVA procedures and logistic regression with generalized estimating equations (GEE). ? ? ?
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