Child health care utilisation in families with young or single mothers in a Swedish county

Abstract

Young age and lone parenthood are risk factors for impaired health among mothers and their children. Due to the higher risks of negative influences on physical and mental health, young and single mothers should be of special concern to the Child Health Services (CHS). In the present study, we investigated consumption patterns of child health care services among young and single mothers in Uppsala County, Sweden to study whether they are reached by the universal CHS program and if selective or indicative measures were administered in daily CHS practice. Register data on CHS contacts and socio-demographic indicators were collected for 10692 infants, born in 1998-2006. Results show small differences in contact pattern and immunization status, between children of young versus older, and single versus cohabiting mothers. However, both young (RR 0.64) and single (RR 0.80) mothers had significantly lower rates of participation in parental group. The CHS were consequently successful in implementing the universal preventive child health programme for all families, including families with young or single mothers. There was no indication, however, of an established selective preventive strategy aimed at these high risk families. Programs for strengthening the support provided to vulnerable families by the CHS are needed.

Swedish norms for the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire for children 3–5 years rated by parents and preschool teachers

“…In addition, parents were instructed to take a third questionnaire to the child's preschool and ask the preschool teacher to complete the form, put it in the prepaid envelope provided and send it directly to the child health centre. In Sweden, more than 90% of all children aged 3-5 attend preschool (The Swedish National Agency for Education, 2013) and 95% visit the child health centres regularly (Wallby, Modin & Hjern, 2013). Thus, this study population was considered an adequate source of data from the general Swedish population of 3-5-yearolds.…”

Identifying Patterns of Emotional and Behavioural Problems in Preschool children : Facilitating Early Detection

“…Within the field of healthcare, it is the Child Healthcare System (CHC) that is responsible for the early detection and prevention of mental health problems among preschool children. The CHC has a well-established screening programme which reaches 95% of all preschool children in Sweden (Wallby, Modin & Hjern, 2013). There are nine health visits during a child's first year of life and then at 18 months, 30 months, 3, 4 and 5 years of age, and the Child Health Nurse (CHN) is the coherent link in the contacts.…”

Barriers to and facilitators of nurse-parent interaction intended to promote healthy weight gain and prevent childhood obesity at Swedish child health centers

“…Today, such visits are widely accepted (up to 99.9% between birth and the age of one year) [9]. CHCs are staffed and run autonomously by specialized full-time nurses who are responsible for general health care in cooperation with part-time physicians, who are responsible for the medical aspects of health care.…”