Measuring the Impact and Outcomes of Maternal Child Health Federal Programs

Improving maternal and child health is a key objective of the United Nations’ Millennium Development Goals and the Healthy
People goals for improving the health of Americans. Government initiatives are important particularly for reducing disparities
that affect disadvantaged populations. Head Start, Healthy Start, WIC and Medicaid are four federal programs that target disparities
in maternal and child health outcomes. This paper reviews recent evaluations of these programs to identify outcomes assessed
and opportunities for further evaluation of these programs. We conducted a review of recent evaluation studies assessing the
impact of four maternal and child health programs on a health or healthcare outcome. Sources for published literature included
the PubMed, Academic Search Complete, CINAHL and PsycInfo databases. Titles and abstracts of studies were examined to determine
if they met inclusion criteria. Included studies were categorized by type of outcome examined. Twenty peer-reviewed studies
published between January 2006 and June 2011 met inclusion criteria. The majority of studies examined infant outcomes (11),
followed by breastfeeding/nutrition (4), maternal health (3), and unintended pregnancy (2). Measures used were consistent
across studies; however, findings on the impact of programs were mixed reflecting differences in selection of comparison group,
data source and statistical methods. The impact of maternal and child health programs may vary by setting and population served,
but inconclusive findings remain. Health service researchers can build upon current evaluations to increase our understanding
of what works, help target resources, and improve evaluation of programs in the future.