title: [Effectiveness of a home visit program for adolescent mothers and their children].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Home visiting is effective for the promotion and prevention of mother-child health in other countries, especially in vulnerable populations such as pregnant teenagers.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To evaluate the association between receiving a home visiting program during pregnancy and child development during the first year of life, maternal mental health, perception of social support and school attendance.
  
  
  METHODS
  Cross sectional assessment of 132 teenage mother-sibling pairs. Of these, 87 received home visits and 45 were randomly assigned to a control group. The assessed variables were maternal mental health, perception of social support, life satisfaction, incorporation of mothers to school after delivery, child development and frequency of child abuse and neglect.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Mothers that received home visits had a better mental health and went back to school in a higher proportion. No significant differences between groups were observed on perception of social support or child development.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These results suggest the effectiveness of domiciliary visits performed by non-professionals, to improve mental health and social integration of teenage mothers.
authors.affiliation: Facultad de Ciencias Sociales/Escuela de Psicología, Escuelas de Medicina y Enfermería, Facultad de Medicina, Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, Av. Vicuña Mackenna 4860, Santiago, Chile. maracena@uc.cl
authors.forename: Marcela
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Aracena
authors.forename: Loreto
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Leiva
authors.forename: Consuelo
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Undurraga
authors.forename: Mariane
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Krause
authors.forename: Carola
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Pérez
authors.forename: Victoria
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Cuadra
authors.forename: María Silvia
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Campos
authors.forename: Paula
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Bedregal
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D002657:Child Development / Q000502:physiology; D003153:Community Health Services / Q000592:standards*; D003430:Cross-Sectional Studies; D005260:Female; D006792:House Calls; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008603:Mental Health / Q000592:standards*; D011247:Pregnancy; D011253:Pregnancy in Adolescence / Q000523:psychology*; D015397:Program Evaluation / Q000379:methods*; D012944:Social Support; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric; D055815:Young Adult