RESEARCH Predictors of Acceptance of a Postpartum Public Health Nurse Home Visit Findings from an Ontario Survey

Objectives: To determine 1) rates of offer and uptake of a home visit provided through Ontario’s universal Hospital Stay and Postpartum Home Visiting Program, and 2) predictors of acceptance of a home visit. Methods: Women were eligible to participate if they had given birth vaginally to a live singleton infant, were being discharged with the infant to their care, were competent to give consent, and could communicate in one of the four study languages. A self-report questionnaire was used to collect data from 1,250 women recruited from five hospitals across the province; 890 (71.2%) women completed a structured telephone interview 4 weeks following discharge. Results: Most women (81.4 % to 97.8%) reported having received a telephone call from a public health nurse, although not necessarily within 48 hours of discharge. While the offer of a home visit reportedly was high across sites, there were statistically significant differences in rates of acceptance (40.8 % to 76.2%). Important predictors of acceptance were first live birth, lower social support, lower maternal rating of services in labour an