What is the Nurse-Family Partnership Program (NFP)?
The Nurse-Family Partnership Program (NFP) is an evidence-based community health program offered to first-time moms facing major socioeconomic barriers who struggle to access the resources and support needed to achieve the best health and wellness outcomes. The program pairs together a first-time mom and a specially educated nurse; the nurse will make regular visits with the mom starting in the early stages of pregnancy and lasting until the child’s second birthday. NFP nurses help to guide families through physical, social, and emotional challenges, as well as navigate systemic barriers in healthcare that they encounter as they prepare to give birth. This program is backed by 45 years of research reflecting significant improvements in the health and lives of first-time moms and their children who have been affected by social and economic inequality. It partners with both families and communities to prevent injury and illness and to promote health and protection through the knowledge they share about the best skills and practices to adopt for healthy living that leads to positive outcomes in child and family development.
Goals of the NFP
- Improve pregnancy outcomes by partnering with moms to engage in good preventive health practices, including thorough prenatal care from their healthcare providers, improving their diets and reducing any use of habit-forming substances
- Improve child health and development by assisting families to provide responsible and competent care.
- Improve the economic self-sufficiency of the family by supporting parents to develop a vision for their own future, plan additional pregnancies, continue their education and find work.
Are you Eligible?
This program is geared to serve first-time moms facing adversity and disparities. Enrollment is voluntary and done by the individuals themselves. The program encourages women to enroll as soon as possible prenatally and no later than the end of the 28th week of pregnancy.
The Relationship Between Nurse and Mother
A relationship you can count on – the foundation of the relationship between the nurse and mother is a strength-based approach focused on therapeutic relationship development and a client-centered approach. Nurses and mothers are committed to a two-and-a-half-year plan that includes weekly visits—this schedule is adjusted to meet the mother’s needs. When provided with quality, personalized health care, pregnant women can gain valuable knowledge, tools, and resources, which lead to positive health outcomes.
NFP nurses monitor the health of both moms and babies so that they are able to detect any early warning signs of health problems that may develop during pregnancy, post-partum, infancy, and early childhood for early intervention. If women or children are experiencing signs of possible health complications, NFP nurses coordinate care with an appropriate healthcare provider and support them through any necessary follow-up care. The ultimate goal of this program is to improve the health and wellness of first-time mothers and their children. Prenatal support is the starting point.
With this level of intensive support, maternal outcomes have been improved relating to:
- 18% fewer preterm births
- 31% reduction in very closely spaced (<6 months) subsequent pregnancies
- 35% fewer cases of pregnancy-induced hypertension
- 79% reduction in preterm delivery among women who smoke cigarettes
Child Health Outcomes
By involving registered nurses, not only do birth outcomes improve, but adverse infant and early childhood outcomes decrease.
- 67% less behavioral and intellectual problems in children at age 6
- 56% fewer emergency room visits for accidents and poisonings through age 21
- 48% reduction in child abuse and neglect
- 39% fewer health care encounters for injuries or ingestions in the first 2 years of life among children born to mothers with low psychological resources
Proven Results
