Popular early years interventions lack evidence, study finds
Neil Puffett
Thursday, June 28, 2018
A number of interventions commonly used to improve the wellbeing of expectant parents and newborns lack evidence of their effectiveness, a study has concluded.
The Early Intervention Foundation report examined the evidence for the early childhood support offered to families through the Healthy Child Programme for under fives, which was introduced in 2009.
The review found that while many of the interventions in the programme are backed by evidence, there is no proof that a number of commonplace interventions make any difference to parents or children.
Interventions found to lack evidence include infant massages, efforts to prevent the onset of mental health issues during pregnancy, and book gifting.
Training to help parents deal with child behaviour problems that are offered during pregnancy or the child's first year of life were also found to be ineffectual.
The report also said there was a distinct shortage of evidence about the effectiveness of interventions designed to deter expectant mothers from using drugs and alcohol during pregnancy.
Kirsten Asmussen, report co-author and head of what works child development at the foundation, said: "Given the significant risks to children's wellbeing with parental substance misuse, it is imperative that more is done to develop and test interventions which reduce drug and alcohol misuse and improve outcomes for children."
Effective interventions were found to include universal screening for mental health problems, methadone treatment for heroin-addicted mothers, home visits to highly vulnerable families and incentive-based stop smoking programmes.
"This review adds significantly to what we know about what works to support mothers through pregnancy and infants in their crucial first 12 months of life," said Jo Casebourne, chief executive of the foundation.
"Just as importantly, it casts light on those common practices which haven't been tested for mothers or very young children, as well as those which have been tested and shown not to work."
Viv Bennett, chief nurse at Public Health England, said: "This publication will help policymakers, commissioners, providers and practitioners use high-quality evidence for decision making, which in turn contributes to our ultimate ambition for every child to have the best start in life."
