[Effects of an early nursing intervention program for infants' development and mother's child rearing in poverty].

PURPOSE: This quasi-experimental study was performed to evaluate the effectiveness of an early nursing intervention program to support mothers of children aged 0-3 yr living in poverty.

METHODS

In this study, mothers who received financial support from the government were recruited from one city and assigned to an intervention group (24) and comparison group (18). They completed a baseline questionnaire about depression, child rearing burden, agreement on physical punishment, and child temperament. Also, Denver II screening of the children was performed by the researcher. Mothers in the intervention group received a home visit intervention every two weeks for three months. At 3-months post-baseline, questionnaire and Denver II screening were reused to compare these two groups.

RESULTS

Mother's depression, child rearing burden, agreement on physical punishment, and child temperament were not significantly different between the two groups. However, the percentage of depression declined only in the intervention group. Mothers in the intervention group showed higher Home Observation for Measurement of the Environment (HOME) scores than mothers in the comparison group.

CONCLUSION

The findings of the study show that this nursing intervention is an effective parenting program. The early nursing program for mothers with infant and toddlers in poverty is effective in promoting HOME, the child rearing home environment.