Theory! the missing link in understanding the performance of neonate/infant home-visiting programs to prevent child maltreatment: A systematic review

Abstract

Context: Home-visiting programs have been offered for more than sixty years to at-risk families of newborns and infants. But despite decades of experience with program delivery, more than sixty published controlled trials, and more than thirty published literature reviews, there is still uncertainty surrounding the performance of these programs. Our particular interest was the performance of home visiting in reducing child maltreatment. Methods: We developed a program logic framework to assist in understanding the neonate/infant home-visiting literature, identified through a systematic literature review. We tested whether success could be explained by the logic model using descriptive synthe..