Schedules for Home Visits in the Early Postpartum Period

Summary

A Cochrane review [Abstract] 1 included 16 studies with over 12 080 subjects. The trials were carried out in countries across the world and the interventions and control conditions varied considerably across studies. There were three broad types of comparisons: schedules involving more versus fewer postnatal home visits (5 trials), schedules involving different models of care (3 trials), and home versus hospital clinic postnatal check-ups (8 trials). In all but two of the included studies, postnatal care at home was delivered by healthcare professionals. The aim of all interventions was broadly to assess the wellbeing of mothers and babies, and to provide education and support, although some had more specific aims such as to encourage breastfeeding, or to provide practical support. For most of our outcomes only 1 or 2 studies provided data, and overall results were inconsistent. There was no evidence that home visits were associated with improvements in maternal and neonatal mortality, and no strong evidence that more postnatal visits at home were associated with improvements in maternal health. More intensive schedules of home visits did not appear to improve maternal psychological health.