Table 2. Outcomes of the interventions by evaluation design

DESIGN / APPROACH / INTERVENTION DETAILS / TARGET / SAMPLE DESCRIPTION / TYPE / IMPACT / OUTCOMES
Randomised controlled trials / Healthy behaviours / Prevention of excessive gestational and postpartum weight gain / Infants and first time mothers / Intervention Group (IG): 37 Control Group (CG): 27 / Targeted / Health / IG children may have slower weight gain until 4 years of age[30]
Mother and child health intervention / Post discharge programme on neurodevelopment / Very low birth weight infants and their mothers / IG: 18, CG:18. Average age of 27.9 weeks / Targeted / Development / At 36 months children in IG exhibited higher scores in personal-social subscales, eye-hand coordination and practical reasoning [31]
Early intervention on child-rearing attitudes / Low birth weight infants / IG:73, CG:73. Age: 12-36 months / Targeted / Parenting / Mothers in IG reported significantly more nurturing child-rearing attitudes at 12 and 24 months in The Child-rearing Practices Report[36]
Specialist home health visits / Children with failure to thrive / IG:42, CG: 41. Age: 4–30 months / Targeted / Development Health care / No significant differences in primary outcomes. Increase in coordination in health care services [32]
Parenting programmes / “The Positive Parenting Programme” (Triple P) developing parenting skills, 5 intensity levels / Parents with children 0-12 / Various studies, sample sizes from 16 to 806 / Proportionate universal / Parenting Health and development / Favourable outcomes in child behaviour and child abuse, also injuries were reduced[19]
“Community Mothers Program” home visits by community mothers / First-time parents in deprived areas / IG: 141, CG: 121. Age: 0-1 / Targeted / Parenting Health / Significant more visits to the library no significant difference in immunisation, dental checks, diet, breastfeeding or accidents [19]
“Family Nurse Partnership” nurse home visits / Low Socio Economic Status (SES) mothers / Various RCTS / Targeted / Health and development / Favourable outcomes in development tests, behaviour, reading and maths test scores, abuse and neglect [19]
Structured parental support during the neonatal period / Mothers of babies born at <32 weeks' gestational age in participating centres / Infants younger than 32 weeks old. IG: 112 CG: 121 / Targeted / Development / Primary Outcome: Cognitive Development. No significant difference between intervention and control groups. Secondary Outcome: Motor Development significant difference both groups at 2 years[33]
Intervention delivered at home providing video feedback and a personal book / Adoptive families with attachment disorganisation / IG with book and video: 65. IG with book: 46. CG: 62 / Targeted / Parenting / Enhanced maternal sensitive responsiveness Children were less likely to be classified as disorganized attached at the age of 12 months than control group[37]
“Preparing for Life”home visits to improveschool readiness / Children living in disadvantaged communities / High treatment: 115, low:118. 0-7 / Targeted / Health / Limited maternal pre and postnatal health behaviours. Favourable for parenting behaviours [42]
“The Growing Child Parenting Programme” parent-directed child-centred learning programme / Parents of children of children aged from birth to 5 years / IG: 216, CG: 208 / Proportionate universal / Development / The evaluation reported some positive effect on the domains of development but no statistically significant improvements at the present stage[42]
“Childhood
Development Initiative-Early years”care and education programme / All families living in an area of social disadvantage in Dublin / When children are aged 2½-3, delivered in 2 waves, lasting 2 years / Targeted / Development / The intervention group scored significantly higher than the control group in terms of the type and range of activities offered to children[42]
“The Social Support and Family Health Study”: postnatal support / Women living in deprived districts who gave birth: 1/1/99-30/9/99 / Community group intervention: 184, health visitor int.:183, CG:364 / Targeted / Parenting and health / There was no evidence of impact on the primary outcomes of either intervention. The Health visitor intervention was associated with improvement in some of the secondary outcomes[51]
Improving housing conditions / Programmeto reduce early post-natal exposure to indoor allergens / Children from the PIAMA birth cohort study / IG: 855, natural history study: 2819. Age: 0-4 / Targeted / Health / The intervention measure had a significant effect on mite-allergen levels, without important clinical benefits up to age 2[40]
Therapies / Communication-focused treatment for autism / Children with a diagnosis of an autistic disorder / 28 children aged 2–5years / Targeted / Parenting
Development / Change in synchrony accounting for 34% of the positive intervention effect on autism symptomatology[43]
Quasi-experiments with control group / Healthy behaviours / 20-month physical activity intervention in child care centres / Pre-schoolers from 11 selected child care centres / IG: 306 children, CG:253 / Targeted / Development
Health / Improved motor performance but no effect on body weight, BMI, or skin fold thickness in the IG[29]
Parenting programmes / Intervention to prevent burn and scald injuries at home / Low SES mothers selected byhealth care services / 99 mothers of children under 7 months / Targeted / Health / The intervention had a significant impact on improving precautions, in relation to the comparison group[41]
“Let’s Play in Tandem”, a parent-delivered compensatory education programme / Children at risk of educational failure from a “Sure Start” sample / IG:30, CG:30, Mean age: 36.7 month / Targeted / Development / The intervention group outperformed matched controls in tests of academic knowledge, receptive vocabulary, inhibitory control and school readiness[68]
“First Parent Health Visitor Scheme” home visits / First time parents in deprived areas / IG: 205, CG: 254 / Targeted / Health / Significantly fewer accidents in the past 12 months[19]
“Incredible Years” a 12 weeks parenting programme / Families with children at risk / Wales 153 families, Oxford: IG:44, CG:32 / Targeted / Development / Intervention children exhibited fewer negative and submissive conducts and higher rates of positive-affect behaviours[19]
“Sure Start” an outreach, child care and home visits programme / Low SES children / IG: 5883, CG: 1879 / Targeted / Parenting
Development / Favourable outcomes in independence , social behaviour, reduced risk of negative parenting and a better home-learning environment[19]
“Eager and Able to Learn” developmental movement experiences delivered in a group / Piloted in 14 settings / 454 children 2-3 years old / Targeted / Development / Significant improvements in social and emotional development. Negative effect on emergent literacy skills. Positive parenting outcomes[42]
Freephone parenting help line for parents and carers / Parentswho contacted parenting help line / 97 parents received support, 99 awaiting / Targeted / Parenting / Parents received telephone support were more likely to report favourable scores than those awaiting [39]
Improving housing conditions / Targeted work with parents and provision and fitting of safety equipment / Families with children within Sure Start areas / Children under five in the intervention ward / Targeted / Health / Over two years the proportion of children attending an A&E department reduced at a faster rate in the intervention wards[48]
Therapies / Multidisciplinary intervention / Children with opiate dependant mothers / IG: 37 children, CG: 374. Age: 5 / Targeted / Health development / Anxiety (37%) and overweight (48%) were higher than in the CG, court placements were reduced[45]
Pre/post evaluations with no control group / Healthy behaviours / “Smoke free children” Child health-centre-based counselling method / Parents who smoke in intervention areas / 128 families / Targeted / Parenting / The annual decrease was 1.7% in the pilot area and 2.7% in remaining parts of the county [35]
Parenting programmes / Antenatal family nursing intervention / Distressed women and their partners / 39 couples during the last two trimesters / Targeted / Parenting / Couple's distress was interrelated. Improvement was significant on all indicators after the intervention[32]
Mini-KiSS-a multimodal group therapy pilot intervention / Parents of young children with sleep disorders / 17 parents of children 0.5 to 4 years of age / Targeted / Health / Significant improvements of sleep disturbances reported in a sleep diary and Child Behaviour Checklist[69]
Therapies / “Interact “intervention based on the social-pragmatic theory / Children who are "late talkers” / 6 boys 24-30 months old / Targeted / Parenting / Vocabulary increased in number of different words. Mothers showed significant changes in their communication and behaviours[47]
Mixed-methods / Parenting programmes / Support and advice on breastfeeding / Mothers 5-12 days after delivery in Redbridge trust / All mothers in the trust area / Targeted / Parenting
Health / Mother’s perceptions were that they would not have continued without support and prevalence went from 60.5% to 67.45%[49]
Baby “FAST” A pilot study to build family relationships / Teenage mothers in a deprived area / Seven teenage mothers and fathers / Targeted / Parent and / Qualitative research showed positive results in consolidating intergenerational bonds, increased interpersonal trust[70]
Therapies / “The Speech and Language Therapy” provided training and support / Early Years (EY) staff and parents / 3 primary schools and 10 EY services, qualitative: 77 parents, staff and others / Targeted / Development / 12% of the boys and 28% of the girls were discharged with their speech and language within normal limits. Around half of the children required on-going therapy[42]
Qualitative methods assesments / Day-care provision / Day care with highly qualified staff / Socially disadvantaged families at a EY centre / IG: 11, CG: 10 mothers of / Targeted / Parenting / Women who received a day care place at the Centre were 23% more likely to be in paid employment[34]
Parenting programmes / The Developing Everyone's Learning and Thinking Abilities (DELTA) parenting programme / Services for children in need and their families / 46 informantsinterviewed 32 in focus groups. 154 postal questionnaires / Targeted / Parenting
Development / 75% of parents felt more confident as parents, 65% that it enhanced their child’s learning. 58% of parents felt that it increased their knowledge on health issues [38]
Ready Steady Grow a programme to improve health and wellbeing / Parents and children in designated area / 23 interviews and 58 surveys with stakeholders / Targeted / Parenting Development / Increased global and language development. No significant decrease in parenting stress and no effect on motor and personal-social development[42]
Therapies / Limerick Lullaby project: music and singing / Women in designated area uncomplicated pregnancy / 6 women age 29-35 / Targeted / Parenting / Mothers described it improved connection, communication, stress reduction, confidence building and foetal attachment[44]