Nurse-Family Partnership Model

The Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP) is an evidence-based home visiting program model that pairs first-time mothers who have low incomes with maternal and child health nurses in order to promote healthy pregnancies, child development, and economic self-sufficiency. Nurses provide their clients with 64 home visits over two and a half years, from pregnancy until the child reaches two years of age.

Nurses receive training and education for conducting home visits, including activities such as motivational interviews, education sessions, assessments, and goal setting activities. The training also includes visit-by-visit guidelines. NFP nurses are encouraged to tailor these guidelines to address the needs of their clients. Nurses also provide their clients with referrals to healthcare providers, child care services, job training programs, and other community-based support services.

Extensive research has determined that NFP is effective in improving prenatal health and school readiness, increasing pregnancy spacing and maternal employment, and decreasing subsequent pregnancies and childhood injuries.

Implementation Considerations

The NFP website offers information and resources for local communities implementing their own NFP program. NFP implementing agencies can include hospitals, state and local health departments, and health centers. These agencies contract with the NFP National Service Office in order to provide services to clients. The National Service Office works with communities to determine the feasibility of implementing the program and to develop a formal implementation plan. Rural communities should understand that they must implement NFP with a high level of fidelity to the model elements in order to ensure the effectiveness of the intervention.

Resources to Learn More

Nurse-Family Partnership (NFP)
Website
This site describes the Nurse Family Partnership program, including evidence of program model effectiveness, program model overviews, and outcome measure details.
Organization(s): Home Visiting Evidence of Effectiveness

Nurse-Family Partnership Overview
Document
Provides an overview of the Nurse-Family Partnership, an evidence-based, community healthcare program designed to empower first-time mothers with low incomes.
Organization(s): Nurse-Family Partnership
Date: 8/2020