Editorial: Making clinical trials smarter (and more interesting)

Evaluating the real-world implementation of the Family Nurse Partnership in England: protocol for a data linkage study

INTRODUCTION

Almost 20 000 babies are born to teenage mothers each year in England, with poorer outcomes for mothers and babies than among older mothers. A nurse home visitation programme in the USA was found to improve a wide range of outcomes for young mothers and their children. However, a randomised controlled trial in England found no effect on short-term primary outcomes, although cognitive development up to age 2 showed improvement. Our study will use linked routinely collected health, education and social care data to evaluate the real-world effects of the Family Nurse Partnership (FNP) on child outcomes up to age 7, with a focus on identifying whether the FNP works better for particular groups of families, thereby informing programme targeting and resource allocation.

METHODS AND ANALYSIS

We will construct a retrospective cohort of all women aged 13-24 years giving birth in English NHS hospitals between 2010 and 2017, linking information on mothers and children from FNP programme data, Hospital Episodes Statistics and the National Pupil Database. To assess the effectiveness of FNP, we will compare outcomes for eligible mothers ever and never enrolled in FNP, and their children, using two analysis strategies to adjust for measured confounding: propensity score matching and analyses adjusting for maternal characteristics up to enrolment/28 weeks gestation. Outcomes of interest include early childhood development, childhood unplanned hospital admissions for injury or maltreatment-related diagnoses and children in care. Subgroup analyses will determine whether the effect of FNP varied according to maternal characteristics (eg, age and education).

ETHICS AND DISSEMINATION

The Nottingham Research Ethics Committee approved this study. Mothers participating in FNP were supportive of our planned research. Results will inform policy-makers for targeting home visiting programmes. Methodological findings on the accuracy and reliability of cross-sectoral data linkage will be of interest to researchers.

Editorial: Child psychology and psychiatry - using science to make a difference

The Journal of Child Psychology and Psychiatry has, I think it is fair to say, a special place in the hearts of scientists and scientist-practitioners working broadly in the field of developmental psychopathology. How would you put into words what it is we all love about the journal? Answers on a postcard please! For me, in addition to the high quality of the science, there is something unique about JCPP's open-minded, eclectic yet rigorous and methodologically pluralistic style that makes it stand out from the rest.