Is a universal nurse home visiting program possible? A cross-sectional survey of nurse home visitation service needs among pregnant women and mothers with young children

In 2019, the South Korean government established a plan to develop home visitation services for pregnant women and women with children below the age of 24 months and expand the services nationwide. Therefore, a national survey was needed to provide relevant information for the policy decision of whether to implement universal home visitation services by nurses for families with young children. To determine home visitation service needs in South Korea, 804 women who were pregnant or had children below the age of 24 months were selected as survey participants through stratified random sampling by region reflecting geographical distribution in numbers of births. Of them, 614 responded to survey questionnaires delivered via email. After excluding surveys with too short of a response time, extreme values, and incomplete answers, 500 participants’ responses were analyzed. Participants indicated whether they supported the provision of home visitation services and whether they were willing to utilize home visitation services. The survey also elicited responses regarding the level of needs for individual service items that could be delivered by nurses during home visits. The fieldwork was conducted by a consulting and research firm. The differences in whether respondents supported nurse home visitation services and intended to use nurse home visitation services according to mothers’ characteristics were examined using the chi-square test. In total, 88.0% of survey participants supported nurse home visitation services, and 81.2% indicated that they intended to receive the services. Most pregnant women and women with children below the age of 24 months responded positively to the various prenatal or postpartum services that nurses could provide during home visits. The percentages of support for the services and intention to use services were generally high among subgroups according to mothers’ characteristics. Therefore, universal home visitation services by nurses during pregnancy and in the postnatal period would be received well by Korean women.