Evidence map›Paper›PMID 40264072›Full record

SynthesisBMC pediatrics2025

Systematic review and meta-analysis of home visiting interventions aimed at enhancing child mental health, psychosocial, and developmental outcomes in vulnerable families.

Sara Cibralic, Weng Tong Wu, Bright Opoku Ahinkorah, Christa Lam-Cassettari, Susan Woolfenden, Jane Kohlhoff, Rebekah Grace, Lynn Kemp, Patrice Johnson, Elisabeth Murphy and 3 more

Abstract readSystematic ReviewMeta-Analysis
PubMed Full text at PMC Publisher
In one paragraph

Synthesis in BMC pediatrics, 2025. The graph could read no effect estimate from its abstract, so it casts no vote on the map. Cited by 7 papers, 1 of them a synthesis that pooled it.

0numbers the graph read from it
0cells of the map it votes in
7citing papers in PubMed, 1 pooled it
–field-weighted citation impact
1 · What the graph read from it

What it found

Each row is one number read from the abstract, on the scale the paper reported it, with its interval. Left of the dashed line favours the treatment, right favours the comparator. Under each row is the sentence it came from. New to these charts? A ten-minute tutorial.

The abstract states no effect estimate the extractor could read, or names no intervention and outcome on the map, so this paper lights no cell and moves no belief. It is still indexed, cited and linked below.

2 · The registry

The trial behind it

Trials whose registry record cites this paper, or whose number appears in the abstract. A trial that started after this paper was published is citing it as background, not reporting it.

Neither the registry nor the abstract names a trial number. If this is a trial report, that itself is worth knowing.

3 · Its place in the literature

Who cites it

7 citing papers in PubMed, 1 synthesis or guideline pooled it.

  1. Pooled it
  2. Trial
  3. The Impact of Federally Funded Home Visiting Programs on Parental Mental Health: a Systematic Review.Prevention science : the official journal of the Society for Prevention Research · 2026
    Review
  4. Article
  5. Article
  6. Child and adolescent psychiatry: challenges, solutions, opportunities, and future directions.World psychiatry : official journal of the World Psychiatric Association (WPA) · 2026
    Article
  7. Article
4 · The record

Corrections and comments

PubMed lists nothing against this paper. Absence here is not a guarantee, only a check that was made.

5 · Who and what money

Authors and funding

13 authors.

Sara CibralicUniversity of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia. s.cibralic@unsw.edu.au.
Weng Tong WuUniversity of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Bright Opoku AhinkorahUniversity of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Christa Lam-CassettariUniversity of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Susan WoolfendenSydney Local Health District, Camperdown, NSW, Australia.
Jane KohlhoffUniversity of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia.
Rebekah GraceWestern Sydney University, New South Wales, Australia.
Lynn KempWestern Sydney University, New South Wales, Australia.
Patrice JohnsonNew South Wales Ministry of Health, St Leonards, NSW, Australia.
Elisabeth MurphyNew South Wales Ministry of Health, St Leonards, NSW, Australia.
April DeeringNew South Wales Ministry of Health, St Leonards, NSW, Australia.
Shanti RamanNew South Wales Ministry of Health, St Leonards, NSW, Australia.
Valsamma EapenUniversity of New South Wales, Sydney, NSW, Australia.

Funding

No grant is acknowledged in the PubMed record.

6 · The paper itself

Abstract

backgroundNumerous systematic reviews have shown home visiting interventions to be effective at improving a variety of parent and child outcomes. No review has, however, examined the impact of home visiting programs targeting child (aged 0-5 years) mental health, socioemotional and/or developmental outcomes in the context of families with high vulnerability and complex needs.

methodA systematic review and meta-analysis were undertaken to examine and synthesize the literature on home visiting programs administered by professionals/paraprofessionals for families with young children, high vulnerability, and complex needs. PsychInfo, Scopus, Embase, PubMed, and CINAHL were searched through August 2023. A manual review was also undertaken of the reference lists of the articles selected for the review and the Home Visiting Evidence of Effectiveness 2023 review/database. English language studies were included if they were evaluated with a group of participants (case studies were excluded), reported results of home visiting intervention targeted at improving mental health and psychosocial outcomes of caregivers and/or developmental outcomes for children (aged 0-4 years 11 months) of families with high vulnerability and complex needs. Two independent reviewers extracted data and assessed for risk of bias. Qualitative results were consolidated narratively while a meta-analysis was used to synthesize quantitative results.

resultsInitial searches identified 623 articles, of which 22 were included in the final review. Findings showed that 18 different home visiting interventions have been implemented with families with high vulnerability and complex needs, and that these interventions are effective at improving a variety of child outcomes. The meta-analysis showed that the weighted mean standardised effect sizes ranged from -0.31 to 0.20, with only one of the four outcomes (i.e., socioemotional and/or behavioural outcomes) being significantly different from 0 (standardised mean difference -0.31; 95% CI: -0.49, -0.13; z = 3.45, p = 0.00). High intervention variability and missing information meant that it was not possible to determine clear patterns regarding features that led to effective versus non-effective interventions.

conclusionTaken together, results indicate that there is some evidence showing that home visiting interventions targeted at families with high vulnerability and complex needs can be effective at improving some child outcomes. More research is required to solidify findings.

trial registrationThe University of York Centre for Reviews and Dissemination (PROSPERO) registration number CRD42023460366.

Indexed as

Child DevelopmentHouse CallsMental HealthVulnerable PopulationsChild, PreschoolHumansInfantInfant, NewbornChild mental healthDevelopmental outcomesHome visiting interventionsMeta-analysisSocioemotional outcomesSystematic reviewVulnerable families

Identifiers

PMID40264072
PMCPMC12013050

What OpenQuestion holds

Textmetadata
LicenceCC BY-NC-ND
Read underepoch 390

Registered trials

None linked

Read under generation 80e0d062 · epoch 390. Bibliography from PubMed, PubMed Central and OpenAlex; grants from NIH RePORTER; trial links from ClinicalTrials.gov; estimates, votes and beliefs from the OpenQuestion graph.