Nurse Family Partnership for Women With Previous Live Births

August 27, 2025 updated by: University of Colorado, Denver

Trial of Nurse Family Partnership for Women With Previous Live Births

The goal of this clinical trial is to test the Nurse Family Partnership (NFP) in mothers with previous live births (multiparous or multip individuals). The main aims are:

Specific Aim 1-Determine the effectiveness of NFP among multiparous women for reducing maternal morbidity and improving pregnancy outcomes.

Specific Aim 2-Determine the effectiveness of NFP among index children (child from pregnancy when mother was enrolled) of multiparous women for improving child outcomes.

Specific Aim 3 (Exploratory)-In preparation for a future study of the effects of preventive home-visiting programs on mother-index child-sibling triads, describe siblings (characteristics, role, influence) in the context of nurse home-visiting and evaluate the effectiveness of NFP on outcomes for prior-born siblings younger than 6 years old living in the home, including cognitive development, socioemotional development, and identification and referral to needed services.

A supplemental study to this study, led by investigators at Yale and Columbia, includes the following Aims:

Aim 1: Test whether the NFP causes variation in DNAm at Glucocorticoid-sensitive sites in infants over the first year of life.

Aim 2: Determine whether NFP causes differences in epigenetic age in infants over the first year of life.

Aim 3: Evaluate DNAm signatures as predictors of infant development at 12 months of age.

Study Overview

Detailed Description

The proposed study will be conducted in partnership with two or more NFP sites in Columbus and Dayton, Ohio. Investigators will work with pregnancy resource referral centers to identify a process that fits into each site's flow for identifying and recruiting eligible multiparous pregnant women at 32 weeks EGA (estimated gestational age) or less to participate in the study. The study will recruit 500 women to participate. Half will be receiving NFP and half will be receiving any other community services available outside of NFP. Researchers will compare the intervention group with the control group to test the effects described in the Aims above (as outlined in the following hypotheses).

Hypothesis 1-Compared to multiparous women who receive usual care, women who receive NFP will have reductions in pregnancy-related hypertension and tobacco use.

Hypothesis 2-Compared to children of women who receive usual care, those whose mothers receive NFP will have improved language development.

Supplemental study hypotheses:

Hypothesis 1: maternal NFP participation causes DNAm variation at glucocorticoid-sensitive sites across the genome at birth, controlling for genetic ancestry

Hypothesis 2: NFP participation reduces DNAm age acceleration from birth to 12 months of age, controlling for genetic variation.

Hypothesis 3: Glucocorticoid-sensitive DNAm and epigenetic aging in offspring measured across infancy (birth to 12 months) will correlate with infant development at 12 months.

Women will be asked to participate in four data collection episodes at study enrollment/baseline (prior to 36 weeks gestation), 6 to 8 weeks postpartum, and child ages 6 and 9 months, and (if consented), to an additional visit at child age 12 months for the supplemental DNAm study.

Researchers will use the following data sources for this study: 1) data routinely collected by the NFP team to determine enrollment and engagement in the NFP program of study participants randomized to NFP; 2) self-administered and interview surveys of study participants collected by the research assistant; 3) formal observation-based assessment tools (such as the Bayley assessment of child development) administered by the research assistant; 4) videos of parent-child interactions recorded by the research assistant and coded by parenting experts; 5) data from medical record review of mothers and their children; 6) birth certificate data; 7) buccal cell samples (infants) collected by the research assistant or self-collected by the participant with guidance from the research assistant.

The research assistants will conduct all the primary data collection from mother-child dyads who have agreed to participate in the trial, and primary data collection will be separate from NFP program delivery which will be conducted by the NFP nurses. Primary data collection will occur at 4 time points as described above. Primary data collection will occur in the participants' homes or at another location where the participant and research assistant feel comfortable (such as a meeting room in a public library). The majority of measures could be collected in a variety of settings with the exception of the video-taped interactions between parents and children which would ideally occur in the child's natural environment. The post partum and 6 month visits only involve maternal report measures and can be conducted by telephone/video using online surveys, unless the participant consents to the cheek swab at the post partum visit, which would be collected in-person.

The research assistant will record where each data collection episode occurred. The research assistant will also record all attempts made to contact study participants for data collection and missed episodes of data collection (i.e., if a visit were arranged and the participant were not available). The research assistant will be trained regarding appropriate collection, transport, and storage procedures for biologic samples and will be trained to conduct the Bayley assessment of child development.

Study Type

Interventional

Enrollment (Actual)

23

Phase

  • Not Applicable

Contacts and Locations

This section provides the contact details for those conducting the study, and information on where this study is being conducted.

Study Locations

    • Ohio
      • Columbus, Ohio, United States, 43205
        • Nationwide Children's Hospital

Participation Criteria

Researchers look for people who fit a certain description, called eligibility criteria. Some examples of these criteria are a person's general health condition or prior treatments.

Eligibility Criteria

Ages Eligible for Study

  • Child
  • Adult

Accepts Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Description

Inclusion Criteria:

  1. pregnant at 32 weeks EGA or less
  2. history of previous live birth
  3. covered by Medicaid or Medicaid-eligible
  4. at least one of the following risks or adversities -age 19 or younger, no high school degree or equivalent, homeless (using a standardized definition), previous birth with low birth weight or prematurity, previous pregnancy with severe morbidity based on Centers for Disease Control definition, current pregnancy within 18 months of previous pregnancy, currently using tobacco or marijuana, history of substance use disorder, and self-identification as Black/African American (as a marker of facing the adversity of structural racism).

Exclusion Criteria:

  1. unable converse and demonstrate adequate understanding to provide consent for study participation in English or Spanish
  2. are already enrolled in a home-visiting intervention with this pregnancy
  3. have previously been enrolled in NFP
  4. under the age of 16 years. Note that we propose to exclude those who don't speak English or Spanish from our study because the community served by the two NFP delivery sites participating in our study is mostly English-speaking with some Spanish-speaking. However, those who don't speak English or Spanish are not excluded from participation in NFP, and NFP routinely provides services to all eligible families regardless of language spoken using bilingual/multilingual nurses when available or using interpretation services. NFP materials for nurses to use with families, known as 'facilitators', are available in several languages. In the rare circumstance that a pregnant woman is excluded from participating in our study based on language, they will not be excluded from receiving NFP.

Study Plan

This section provides details of the study plan, including how the study is designed and what the study is measuring.

How is the study designed?

Design Details

  • Primary Purpose: Prevention
  • Allocation: Non-Randomized
  • Interventional Model: Parallel Assignment
  • Masking: Single

Arms and Interventions

Participant Group / Arm
Intervention / Treatment
Active Comparator: Intervention (NFP)
In the standard NFP intervention, low-income pregnant women are recruited to voluntarily join the program through their 28th week of pregnancy. Enrolled women receive home visits from a nurse. The visits can occur in-person or via telehealth. In-person visits can occur in the client's home or in another community location agreed upon by the client and the nurse (such as a library or coffee shop). The typical schedule for visits is weekly during the first month after enrollment, every two weeks until the birth of the infant, weekly during the post-partum period, then every two to four weeks until child age two.
During NFP visits, the nurse: 1) engages in a therapeutic nurse-client relationship focused on promoting client abilities and behavior change to protect and promote her own health and child's health; 2) provides service coordination based on client's identified needs, referring to available community services; 3) follows NFP Visit Guidelines tailoring them to the strengths and challenges of each family; 4) works with client to support a healthy pregnancy by recognizing and reducing risk factors and promoting prenatal health care, healthy diet, exercise, and stress management; and 5) gathers data on program implementation and maternal and child health. The visits include content from six domains: personal health, environmental health, life-course, maternal role, family and friends, and health and human services. Nurses use educational materials to address the content from the six domains with their clients.
No Intervention: Control
The control group will receive usual care for pregnant people, which may include home visiting services from another source other than NFP. Participants who are randomly selected to receive other services will be given information about other services for which they may qualify and information about how to access those services.

What is the study measuring?

Primary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Presence of Pregnancy-related hypertension
Time Frame: Birth of index child
High Blood Pressure associated with pregnancy
Birth of index child
Change in maternal tobacco use by cotinine
Time Frame: Less than 28 weeks gestation and 36 weeks gestation
Measured by cotinine level in saliva
Less than 28 weeks gestation and 36 weeks gestation
Change in self reported maternal tobacco use
Time Frame: Less than 36 weeks gestation, within 6 weeks of index birth (postpartum), index child age 6 months, 9 months
Measured by self-report (yes/no)
Less than 36 weeks gestation, within 6 weeks of index birth (postpartum), index child age 6 months, 9 months
Index child language development measured by the Bayley IV language subscale
Time Frame: Index child age 12 months
Scaled, age-adjusted score from 1-19 with 19 being best outcome
Index child age 12 months
Index child language development measured by the Peabody Picture Vocabulary Test
Time Frame: Index child age 9 months
Percentage out of 100; 100 being best outcome
Index child age 9 months
DNA methylation biomarkers
Time Frame: Within 6 weeks of index birth (postpartum) and child age 12 months
Epigenetic age and glucocorticoid-sensitive DNA methylation score from methylation array data
Within 6 weeks of index birth (postpartum) and child age 12 months

Secondary Outcome Measures

Outcome Measure
Measure Description
Time Frame
Number of participants with infection during pregnancy based on medical record review
Time Frame: Index child age 1 month
Receipt of screening for common infections; if positive, receipt of appropriate treatment
Index child age 1 month
Number of infants born with weight less than 2500 grams per medical record review
Time Frame: Index child age 1 month
Index child age 1 month
Number of infants born less than 34 weeks gestation per medical record review
Time Frame: Index child age 1 month
Index child age 1 month
Change in self-reported maternal substance use
Time Frame: Less than 36 weeks gestation, within 6 weeks of index birth (postpartum), index child age 6 months, 9 months
Past month use per self-report (yes/no)
Less than 36 weeks gestation, within 6 weeks of index birth (postpartum), index child age 6 months, 9 months
Initiation and continuation of any breastfeeding per maternal report
Time Frame: Index child age 1 month, 6 months
Maternal report of any breastfeeding
Index child age 1 month, 6 months
Percentage of well-child visits attended for index child per medical record review
Time Frame: Index child age 9-12 months
Number out of 6 visits by 9 months
Index child age 9-12 months
Index child immunization use per medical record review
Time Frame: Record review at index child age 9-12 months
Immunizations up-to-date for age at 9 months
Record review at index child age 9-12 months
Index child emergency room visits for serious preventable injuries and sentinel injuries for child abuse.
Time Frame: Index child age birth to 9 months, Record review at index child age 9-12 months
Visit rate and reason for visit per medical record review
Index child age birth to 9 months, Record review at index child age 9-12 months
Index child hospitalization for injuries
Time Frame: Record review at index child age 9-12 months
Number of days hospitalized for injury per medical record review
Record review at index child age 9-12 months
Change in quality of home environment measured by the HOME (Home Observation Measurement of the Environment) Inventory short form
Time Frame: 36 weeks gestation, index child age 6 months
53 yes/no measures; score scaled based on child age, self-report and interviewer observation
36 weeks gestation, index child age 6 months
Change in quality of home environment measured by the CHAOS (Confusion, Hubbub and Order Scale) Scale
Time Frame: 36 weeks gestation, index child age 6 months
On a scale of 1-15, The higher the score the higher the level of environmental chaos in the home
36 weeks gestation, index child age 6 months
Mother-child interaction measured by the Dyadic Assessment of Naturalistic Caregiver-child Experiences (DANCE)
Time Frame: Index child age 9 months
Video recorded interactions are scored by trained research assistants, for each behavior the frequency and proportion of time spent is recorded.
Index child age 9 months
Child's developmental index measured by Bayley IV developmental assessment
Time Frame: Index child age 12 months
Scaled, age-adjusted score from 1-19 with 19 being best outcome
Index child age 12 months
Index child's social and emotional development based on Bayley IV socio-emotional subscale
Time Frame: Index child age 12 months
Scaled, age-adjusted score from 1-19 with 19 being best outcome
Index child age 12 months
Index child's social and emotional development measured by the Child Behavior Checklist (CBCL) (maternal report)
Time Frame: Index child age 6 months
54 question scored on a scale of 0-2; lower scores are more emotionally regulated children
Index child age 6 months
Change in maternal perceived stress measured by Perceived Stress Scale (maternal report)
Time Frame: Less than 36 weeks gestation and index child age 6 months
Scale of 0-40 based on 10 questions; 0-13 would be considered low stress. Scores ranging from 14-26 would be considered moderate stress. Scores ranging from 27-40 would be considered high perceived stress.
Less than 36 weeks gestation and index child age 6 months

Collaborators and Investigators

This is where you will find people and organizations involved with this study.

Investigators

  • Principal Investigator: Mandy A Allison, MD, MSPH, University of Colorado School of Medicine
  • Principal Investigator: Deena Chisolm, PhD, Nationwide Children's Hospital

Publications and helpful links

The person responsible for entering information about the study voluntarily provides these publications. These may be about anything related to the study.

General Publications

Study record dates

These dates track the progress of study record and summary results submissions to ClinicalTrials.gov. Study records and reported results are reviewed by the National Library of Medicine (NLM) to make sure they meet specific quality control standards before being posted on the public website.

Study Major Dates

Study Start (Actual)

April 29, 2024

Primary Completion (Actual)

January 31, 2025

Study Completion (Actual)

January 31, 2025

Study Registration Dates

First Submitted

April 27, 2023

First Submitted That Met QC Criteria

May 23, 2023

First Posted (Actual)

June 2, 2023

Study Record Updates

Last Update Posted (Estimated)

September 4, 2025

Last Update Submitted That Met QC Criteria

August 27, 2025

Last Verified

August 1, 2025

More Information

Terms related to this study

Plan for Individual participant data (IPD)

Plan to Share Individual Participant Data (IPD)?

YES

IPD Plan Description

We will share de-identified individual participant data with researchers who desire to conduct additional analyses. Investigators who are interested in accessing de-identified individual participant data should e-mail the Prevention Research Center for Family and Child Health (FamilyChildPRC@cuanschutz.edu) to request an application for data use. The leadership team at the PRC (Prevention Research Center for Family and Child Health) will review the application and determine whether to grant access. The criteria are listed below under 'Access Criteria'.

IPD Sharing Time Frame

Data will become available at the close of currently funded study (January 2027) and will be available for 10 years (through December 2036).

IPD Sharing Access Criteria

Criteria used in the review are as follows:

  1. Proposal has reasonable scientific merit; allows data to be put to good scientific use. Proposal is both theoretically and empirically sound.

    1. Statistical power is appropriate given level of project
    2. Likely usefulness for investigator.
    3. Likely to contribute to existing knowledge base
  2. Investigator's collaborator should be associated with our team. They provide link to our team, may provide access to data or at least communicate what data are available.
  3. Proposed analyses have not already been completed or proposed by other collaborators or members of the research team.
  4. Demands on current staff time are minimal including:

    1. Variable construction
    2. Statistical consultation
    3. Providing computer access/resources
    4. Data cleaning
    5. Providing access to data
    6. Current load of staff, including existing outside projects

IPD Sharing Supporting Information Type

  • STUDY_PROTOCOL
  • SAP
  • ICF
  • ANALYTIC_CODE
  • CSR

Drug and device information, study documents

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated drug product

No

Studies a U.S. FDA-regulated device product

No

This information was retrieved directly from the website clinicaltrials.gov without any changes. If you have any requests to change, remove or update your study details, please contact register@clinicaltrials.gov. As soon as a change is implemented on clinicaltrials.gov, this will be updated automatically on our website as well.

Clinical Trials on Pregnancy, High Risk

Clinical Trials on Nurse Family Partnership

Subscribe