The effect of a home visit on parental compliance with a home program.

This study was designed to test the hypothesis that one home visit would improve parental compliance to a physical therapy program prescribed for children with delayed motor development. Eighteen mothers and their infants were randomly assigned to two groups, only one of which received the home visit. After one month of following the regimen at home, the parents were evaluated for the degree to which they complied with the prescribed physical therapy program. The motor development of their child was also reassessed. Although mothers who received a home visit showed a higher rate of compliance, the difference was not significant. However, mothers of children with severely delayed motor development demonstrated a significantly higher rate of compliance than did mothers of moderately delayed children (p < .01). The improvement in the developmental level of the children whose parents had received a home visit was demonstrated to be greater. The small number of subjects and several limitations in experimental design preclude drawing any definitive conclusions.