Birth Outcomes of Second Children after Community-Based Home Visiting

The purpose of the original research project was to evaluate birth outcomes of second children after community-based home visiting that targeted first-time parents. Outcomes include gestational age, birthweight, pregnancy spacing, cesarean sections, and timing of prenatal care initiation. Birth certificate data were used to create comparison groups for this observational study. Birth outcomes for the NFN second children were compared to: (a) their older siblings (the children whose birth led to enrollment in NFN), (b) a propensity-score-matched group of non-NFN children, and (c) children of families who were screened as eligible for NFN, but not offered the program due to home visitor availability and other logistical reasons. Due to the small size of the group and substantial differences in baseline characteristics, this last group (c: eligible but unenrolled) are not included in this dataset. The primary data sources include NFN program data and CT Birth Certificate data for 2005-2015. Access to the NFN dataset came in partnership with the University of Hartford Center for Social Research. The Connecticut Department of Public Health provided access to the CT Birth Certificate data. Data were collected through administrative and medical records. Birth certificates providing birth outcome information were linked to NFN data based on multiple identifying variables.<br><br>The final dataset was created in Stata and provided here in Stata, SPSS, R, and .csv formats.