Manuscript Detail | Home Visiting Evidence of Effectiveness

Wen, L. M., Baur, L. A., Simpson, J. M., Xu, H., Hayes, A. J., Hardy, L. L., Williams, M., & Rissel, C. (2015). Sustainability of effects of an early childhood obesity prevention trial over time: A further 3-year follow-up of the Healthy Beginnings trial. JAMA Pediatrics, 169(6), 543–551. https:// doi:10.1001/jamapediatrics.2015.0258

Manuscript screening details
Screening decision	Screening conclusion	HomVEE procedures and standards version
Passes screens	Eligible for review	Version 2

Study design details
Rating	Design	Attrition	Baseline equivalence	Compromised randomization	Confounding factors	Valid, reliable measure(s)
High	Randomized controlled trial	Low	Not assessed for randomized controlled trials with low attrition	No	No	Yes

Notes:

All child and maternal outcomes assessed when children were age 5 received a low rating because they had high attrition and did not satisfy the baseline equivalence requirement. Some findings on children’s dietary behaviors and TV-watching behaviors when they were age 3.5 received an indeterminate rating because HomVEE was not able to confirm measure reliability.

Study characteristics
Study participants	The Healthy Beginnings Trial (HBT) was a randomized controlled trial that recruited first-time mothers receiving prenatal care in one of two hospitals. The study began in 2007 and assigned 337 families to the Healthy Beginnings home visiting intervention—received in the first two years of a child’s life—and 330 families to the comparison group. The HBT Phase 2 study began in 2011 with a goal of investigating the long-term effects of the home visiting intervention when children were ages 3.5 and 5. Of those originally assigned, 465 (236 intervention, 229 comparison) agreed to participate in the Phase 2 study, and 369 (191 intervention, 178 comparison) remained in the study when their children were age 5. Fifty-five percent of enrolled children in the follow-up study were male, and 46 percent were female. More than half of the women (57 percent) were employed or on paid or unpaid parental leave. Twenty-five percent of households had an annual income of less than $40,000; 31 percent had an annual income of between $40,000 and $79,999; and 43 percent had an annual income of more than $80,000. Authors did not report collecting data on race or ethnicity but did say that 63 percent of women in the study were born in Australia.
Setting	The study took place in socially and economically disadvantaged areas of South Western Sydney, Australia.
Intervention services	The Healthy Beginnings intervention was designed to improve family and behavioral risk factors for childhood obesity. The intervention consisted of eight home visits from community nurses delivering a staged home-based intervention, with one visit in the antenatal period and seven visits at one, three, five, nine, 12, 18, and 24 months after birth. Each visit lasted about one to two hours. Working with the mother and infant, the nurse addressed infant feeding practices, nutrition, play and activity (of both child and family), and social support.
Comparison conditions	Families assigned to the comparison group were not eligible to receive Healthy Beginnings. The comparison group was eligible to receive typical antenatal services provided in Australia, which included at least one nurse visit for general support at home. The study provided materials promoting home safety at six and 12 months.
Subgroups examined	This field lists subgroups examined in the manuscript (even if they were not replicated in other samples and not reported on the summary page for this model’s report). There were no subgroups reported in this manuscript.
Funding sources	This research was supported by grants from the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (ID numbers 393112 and 1003780). One of the co-authors was supported by a grant from the Australian National Health and Medical Research Council (ID number 571372).
Author affiliation	The authors are affiliated with the Sydney School of Public Health and Sydney Medical School at the University of Sydney, the Department of Endocrinology and Metabolism at the University of Tongji, and the Discipline of Pediatrics and Child Health, Sydney Medical School at the University of Sydney. The authors were involved in designing the Healthy Beginnings demonstration project.
Peer reviewed	Yes

Study Registration:

Clinicaltrials.gov Identifier: None found. SocialScienceRegistry.org Identifier: None found. Registry of Efficacy and Effectiveness Studies Identifier: None found. Study registration was assessed by HomVEE for Clinicaltrials.gov beginning with the 2014 review, and for other registries beginning with the 2021 review.

Findings that rate moderate or high

Child development and school readiness
Rating	Outcome measure	Effect	Sample	Timing of follow-up	Sample size	Intervention group	Comparison group	Group difference	Effect size	Statistical significance	Notes
High	Child physical activity: Outdoor play at least 120 min/day	FavorableUnfavorable or ambiguousNo Effect	HBT Phase 2 vs. comparison RCT, Sydney, Australia, 2011-2014, full sample	3.5 years old	415 children	Unadjusted proportion = 0.66	Unadjusted proportion = 0.68	Mean difference = -0.02	HomVEE calculated = -0.05	Not statistically significant, p= 0.65

Child health
Rating	Outcome measure	Effect	Sample	Timing of follow-up	Sample size	Intervention group	Comparison group	Group difference	Effect size	Statistical significance	Notes
High	Child BMI	FavorableUnfavorable or ambiguousNo Effect	HBT Phase 2 vs. comparison RCT, Sydney, Australia, 2011-2014, full sample	2 years old	465 children	Unadjusted mean = 16.57	Unadjusted mean = 16.98	Mean difference = -0.41	HomVEE calculated = -0.25	Statistically significant, p = 0.01	Submitted by nwu on Fri, 04/12/2019 - 18:31 Statistical significance is based on HomVEE calculations.
High	Child BMI	FavorableUnfavorable or ambiguousNo Effect	HBT Phase 2 vs. comparison RCT, Sydney, Australia, 2011-2014, full sample	3.5 years old	415 children	Unadjusted mean = 16.74	Unadjusted mean = 16.80	Mean difference = -0.06	HomVEE calculated = -0.03	Not statistically significant, p = 0.73	Submitted by nwu on Fri, 04/12/2019 - 18:31 Statistical significance is based on HomVEE calculations.
High	Child BMI (standardized units)	FavorableUnfavorable or ambiguousNo Effect	HBT Phase 2 vs. comparison RCT, Sydney, Australia, 2011-2014, full sample	2 years old	465 children	Unadjusted mean = 0.55	Unadjusted mean = 0.84	Mean difference = -0.29	HomVEE calculated = -0.26	Statistically significant, p = 0.01	Submitted by nwu on Fri, 04/12/2019 - 18:31 Statistical significance is based on HomVEE calculations.
High	Child BMI (standardized units)	FavorableUnfavorable or ambiguousNo Effect	HBT Phase 2 vs. comparison RCT, Sydney, Australia, 2011-2014, full sample	3.5 years old	415 children	Unadjusted mean = 0.89	Unadjusted mean = 0.97	Mean difference = -0.08	HomVEE calculated = -0.07	Not statistically significant, p = 0.49	Submitted by nwu on Fri, 04/12/2019 - 18:31 Statistical significance is based on HomVEE calculations.
High	Child dietary behaviors: At least 2 servings per day of fruit	FavorableUnfavorable or ambiguousNo Effect	HBT Phase 2 vs. comparison RCT, Sydney, Australia, 2011-2014, full sample	3.5 years old	415 children	Unadjusted proportion = 0.70	Unadjusted proportion = 0.69	Mean difference = 0.01	HomVEE calculated = 0.03	Not statistically significant, p= 0.82
High	Child dietary behaviors: At least 2 servings per day of vegetables	FavorableUnfavorable or ambiguousNo Effect	HBT Phase 2 vs. comparison RCT, Sydney, Australia, 2011-2014, full sample	3.5 years old	415 children	Unadjusted proportion = 0.45	Unadjusted proportion = 0.45	Mean difference = 0.00	HomVEE calculated = 0.00	Not statistically significant, p= 0.95

Maternal health
Rating	Outcome measure	Effect	Sample	Timing of follow-up	Sample size	Intervention group	Comparison group	Group difference	Effect size	Statistical significance	Notes
High	Maternal dietary behaviors: At least 2 servings per day of fruit	FavorableUnfavorable or ambiguousNo Effect	HBT Phase 2 vs. comparison RCT, Sydney, Australia, 2011-2014, full sample	3.5 years old	369 mothers	Unadjusted proportion = 0.52	Unadjusted proportion = 0.48	Mean difference = 0.04	HomVEE calculated = 0.10	Not statistically significant, p= 0.49
High	Maternal dietary behaviors: At least 2 servings per day of vegetables	FavorableUnfavorable or ambiguousNo Effect	HBT Phase 2 vs. comparison RCT, Sydney, Australia, 2011-2014, full sample	3.5 years old	369 mothers	Unadjusted proportion = 0.63	Unadjusted proportion = 0.71	Mean difference = -0.08	HomVEE calculated = -0.22	Not statistically significant, p= 0.08
High	Maternal dietary behaviors: Fast food	FavorableUnfavorable or ambiguousNo Effect	HBT Phase 2 vs. comparison RCT, Sydney, Australia, 2011-2014, full sample	3.5 years old	369 mothers	Unadjusted proportion = 0.78	Unadjusted proportion = 0.85	Mean difference = -0.07	HomVEE calculated = -0.28	Not statistically significant, p= 0.06	Submitted by user on Fri, 03/15/2019 - 14:29 Negative effect is favorable to the intervention.
High	Maternal dietary behaviors: Processed meat more than 3 times per week	FavorableUnfavorable or ambiguousNo Effect	HBT Phase 2 vs. comparison RCT, Sydney, Australia, 2011-2014, full sample	3.5 years old	369 mothers	Unadjusted proportion = 0.24	Unadjusted proportion = 0.22	Mean difference = 0.02	HomVEE calculated = 0.07	Not statistically significant, p= 0.69
High	Maternal dietary behaviors: Soft drinks, more than 7 cups per week	FavorableUnfavorable or ambiguousNo Effect	HBT Phase 2 vs. comparison RCT, Sydney, Australia, 2011-2014, full sample	3.5 years old	369 mothers	Unadjusted proportion = 0.31	Unadjusted proportion = 0.34	Mean difference = -0.03	HomVEE calculated = -0.08	Not statistically significant, p= 0.51	Submitted by user on Fri, 03/15/2019 - 14:29 Negative effect is favorable to the intervention.
High	Maternal physical activity: Total physical activity time at least 150 min/week	FavorableUnfavorable or ambiguousNo Effect	HBT Phase 2 vs. comparison RCT, Sydney, Australia, 2011-2014, full sample	3.5 years old	369 mothers	Unadjusted proportion = 0.44	Unadjusted proportion = 0.47	Mean difference = -0.03	HomVEE calculated = -0.07	Not statistically significant, p= 0.59
High	Maternal TV watching: Watching TV less than 120 min/day	FavorableUnfavorable or ambiguousNo Effect	HBT Phase 2 vs. comparison RCT, Sydney, Australia, 2011-2014, full sample	3.5 years old	369 mothers	Unadjusted proportion = 0.63	Unadjusted proportion = 0.68	Mean difference = -0.05	HomVEE calculated = -0.13	Not statistically significant, p= 0.32

Positive parenting practices
Rating	Outcome measure	Effect	Sample	Timing of follow-up	Sample size	Intervention group	Comparison group	Group difference	Effect size	Statistical significance	Notes
High	Child TV watching: TV viewing time less than 60 min/day	FavorableUnfavorable or ambiguousNo Effect	HBT Phase 2 vs. comparison RCT, Sydney, Australia, 2011-2014, full sample	3.5 years old	415 children	Unadjusted proportion = 0.11	Unadjusted proportion = 0.06	Mean difference = 0.05	HomVEE calculated = 0.40	Not statistically significant, p= 0.07	Submitted by user on Fri, 03/15/2019 - 14:29 Negative effect is favorable to the intervention.