Interventions supporting parental adaptation in the neonatal period in primary health care: scoping review
DOI:
https://doi.org/10.29352/mill0231.46520Keywords:
family nursing; house calls; infant; newborn; parenting; primary health careAbstract
Introduction: The transition to parenthood is a critical period of emotional and relational vulnerability, requiring structured interventions in primary health care. In this context, home visiting has emerged as a central strategy to support families with newborns, enabling more contextualised and proximity-based care.
Objective: To map the evidence on primary health care interventions, with a particular focus on home visiting, described as supporting parental adaptation during the neonatal period, identifying their key components and discussing their relevance for Family Health Specialist Nursing practice.
Methods: A scoping review was conducted following Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI, 2024) methodology and reported in accordance with PRISMA-ScR. The search was conducted in PubMed, CINAHL Ultimate, and Scopus (October–December 2025), including grey literature. Study selection and data extraction were conducted independently by two reviewers. Data were analysed using descriptive and thematic synthesis.
Results: Sixteen documents were included. Five core components were identified: structured family assessment, individualised parental education, promotion of parent–infant bonding, emotional support and co-parenting, and relational continuity with community linkage. Included studies were heterogeneous in design, population, and outcomes assessed.
Conclusion: Home visiting constitutes a relevant primary health care strategy to support parental adaptation in the neonatal period, integrating components that reflect the multidimensional and family-centred nature of this approach. These findings may inform Family Health Specialist Nursing practice and reinforce the need for structured, evidence-based interventions.
Downloads
References
Al-Adhami, M., Garefalaki Kornaros, K., & Lönnberg, G. (2025). Supported in a time of need – first-time parents’ perceptions of a Swedish extended home visiting program. BMC Primary Care, 26, 281. https://doi.org/10.1186/s12875-025-02983-y
Alarcão, F. S. P., Shephard, E., Fatori, D., Amável, R., Chiesa, A., Fracolli, L., Matijasevich, A., Brentani, H., Nelson, C. A., Leckman, J., Miguel, E. C., & Polanczyk, G. V. (2021). Promoting mother-infant relationships and underlying neural correlates: Results from a randomized controlled trial of a home-visiting program for adolescent mothers in Brazil. Developmental Science, 24, e13113. https://doi.org/10.1111/desc.13113
Ammerman, R. T., Peugh, J. L., Teeters, A. R., Sakuma, K.-L., Jones, D. E., Hostetler, M. L., Van Ginkel, J. B., & Feinberg, M. E. (2022). Promoting parenting in home visiting: A CACE analysis of Family Foundations. Journal of Family Psychology, 36(2), 225–235. https://doi.org/10.1037/fam0000888
Baraldi, E., Westling Allodi, M., Löwing, K., Wadström, N., Smedler, A.-C., Örtqvist, M., Westrup, B., & Ådén, U. (2025). Parent–child interaction after home-visiting intervention for children born extremely preterm: A randomised clinical trial. Acta Paediatrica, 114, 74–82. https://doi.org/10.1111/apa.17399
Baziyants, G. A., Dodge, K. A., Bai, Y., Goodman, W. B., O'Donnell, K., & Murphy, R. A. (2023). The effects of a universal short-term home visiting program: Two-year impact on parenting behavior and parent mental health. Child Abuse & Neglect, 140, Article 106140. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.chiabu.2023.106140
Baziyants, G. A., Dodge, K. A., Goodman, W. B., Bai, Y., Murphy, R. A., & O’Donnell, K. (2025). Promoting long-term parent and caregiver mental health through universal postnatal nurse home visiting: Intervention effects and mechanisms of action. Prevention Science, 26, 921–931. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11121-025-01827-6
Cardoso, A., Soares, A., Sousa, B., Oliveira, M., Chaves, S., & Carvalho, J. (2024). Guia orientador de boas práticas: Adaptação à parentalidade. Ordem dos Enfermeiros. https://encurtador.com.br/vYnE
Cato, K., Funkquist, E.-L., & Karlsson Rosenblad, A. (2024). Instrument development and an intervention to increase parents’ self-efficacy regarding their infant’s sleep. Sexual & Reproductive Healthcare, 39, Article 100944. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.srhc.2023.100944
Direção-Geral da Saúde. (2013). Programa Nacional de Saúde Infantil e Juvenil. DGS. https://shre.ink/Gs75
Direção-Geral da Saúde. (2020). Programa Nacional de Saúde Reprodutiva. DGS. https://shre.ink/Gs7x
Flierman, M., Möller, E. L., Engelbert, R. H. H., van Kaam, A. H., Bossen, D., & Jeukens-Visser, M. (2024). Feasibility of a Dutch post-discharge parenting intervention (TOP program) for moderate preterm born infants. Early Human Development, 198, Article 106124. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.earlhumdev.2024.106124
Meleis, A. I. (2012). Transitions theory: Middle-range and situation-specific theories in nursing research and practice. Springer Publishing. https://short-url.cc/1EQbL
Mersky, J. P., Choi, C., & Plummer Lee, C. T. (2022). Quasinatural experiment of postnatal home visiting: An independent impact study of Family Connects. American Journal of Preventive Medicine, 63(5), 783–789. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.amepre.2022.05.008
Ordem dos Enfermeiros. (2015). Padrões de qualidade dos cuidados especializados em enfermagem de saúde familiar (Regulamento n.º 367/2015). Diário da República, 2.ª Série, n.º 124. https://shre.ink/Gs7g
Peters, M. D. J., Godfrey, C., McInerney, P., Munn, Z., Tricco, A. C., & Khalil, H. (2024). Scoping reviews. In E. Aromataris & Z. Munn (Eds.), JBI manual for evidence synthesis. JBI. https://synthesismanual.jbi.global
Ribeiro, D., Melo, A., Choupina, A. R., Pinto, M., & Figueiredo, M. H. (2021). Aplicação do Modelo Dinâmico de Avaliação e Intervenção Familiar na prática clínica de uma família na transição para a parentalidade. Pensar Enfermagem, 25(1), 19–30. https://doi.org/10.56732/pensarenf.v25i1.178
Sæther, K. M., Fagerlund, B. H., Glavin, K., & Jøranson, N. (2024). First-time parents’ support needs and perceived support from a child health service with the integrated New Families home visiting programme. Qualitative Health Research, 34(1-2), 20–32. https://doi.org/10.1177/10497323231208972
Schuetz Haemmerli, N., Stoffel, L., Schmitt, K.-U., Khan, J., Humpl, T., Nelle, M., & Cignacco, E. (2022). Enhancing parents’ well-being after preterm birth: A qualitative evaluation of the Transition to Home model of care. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 19, Article 4309. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph19074309
Serviço Nacional de Saúde (SNS24). (2024). Depressão pós-parto. SNS24. https://shre.ink/Gs7r
Tazza, C., Ioverno, S., & Pallini, S. (2023). Home-visiting programs based on the Brazelton approach: A scoping review. European Journal of Pediatrics, 182, 3469–3479. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00431-023-05048-3
Tricco, A. C., Lillie, E., Zarin, W., O’Brien, K. K., Colquhoun, H., Levac, D., Moher, D., Peters, M. D. J., Horsley, T., Weeks, L., Hempel, S., & Craig, J. (2018). PRISMA extension for scoping reviews (PRISMA-ScR): Checklist and explanation. Annals of Internal Medicine, 169(7), 467–473. https://doi.org/10.7326/M18-0850
Wang, Z., Liu, J., Shuai, H., Cai, Z., Fu, X., Liu, Y., Xiao, X., Zhang, W., Krabbendam, L., Liu, S., Liu, Z., Li, Z., & Yang, B. X. (2021). Mapping global prevalence of depression among postpartum women. Translational Psychiatry, 11, 543. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41398-021-01663-6
Wojcieszek, A. M., Bonet, M., Portela, A., Althabe, F., Bahl, R., Chowdhary, N., Dua, T., Edmond, K., Gupta, S., Rogers, L. M., Souza, J. P., & Oladapo, O. T. (2023). WHO recommendations on maternal and newborn care for a positive postnatal experience: strengthening the maternal and newborn care continuum. BMJ Global Health, 8, e010992. https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjgh-2022-010992
Wright, L. M., & Leahey, M. (2023). Nurses and families: A guide to family assessment and intervention (7th ed.). F.A. Davis.
Yllera, M. M. F., Mota, B. E. S., Ferro, J. L. S., Gonçalves, F. M. R. R., Nolasco, P. F. F., Coimbra, V. L. M. M., Monteiro, V. S. C., & Marques, E. M. B. G. (2025). Family nurse interventions in promoting the health of families with newborns at home: A scoping review. Global Academic Nursing Journal, 6(3), e488. https://doi.org/10.5935/2675-5602.20200488
Youn, Y. A., Shin, S.-H., Kim, E.-K., Jin, H.-J., Jung, Y.-H., Heo, J.-S., Jeon, J.-H., Park, J.-H., & Sung, I.-K. (2021). Preventive intervention program on the outcomes of very preterm infants and caregivers: A multicenter randomized controlled trial. Brain Sciences, 11, Article 575. https://doi.org/10.3390/brainsci11050575
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Copyright (c) 2026 Millenium - Journal of Education, Technologies, and Health
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Authors who submit proposals for this journal agree to the following terms:
a) Articles are published under the Licença Creative Commons (CC BY 4.0), in full open-access, without any cost or fees of any kind to the author or the reader;
b) The authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication, allowing the free sharing of work, provided it is correctly attributed the authorship and initial publication in this journal;
c) The authors are permitted to take on additional contracts separately for non-exclusive distribution of the version of the work published in this journal (eg, post it to an institutional repository or as a book), with an acknowledgment of its initial publication in this journal;
d) Authors are permitted and encouraged to publish and distribute their work online (eg, in institutional repositories or on their website) as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as increase the impact and citation of published work
Documents required for submission
Article template (Editable format)
