“From resistance to challenge”: child health service nurses experiences of how a course in group leadership affected their management of parental groups

Abstract

BackgroundAll parents in Sweden are invited to child health service (CHS) parental groups, however only 49% of the families participate. The way the parental groups are managed has been shown to be of importance for how parents experience the support and CHS nurses describe feeling insecure when running the groups. Lack of facilitation, structure and leadership might jeopardise the potential benefit of such support groups. This study describes CHS nurses’ experiences of how a course in group leadership affected the way they ran their parental groups.MethodsA course in group leadership given to 56 CHS nurses was evaluated in focus group interviews 5–8 months after the course.ResultsThe nurses felt strengthened in their group leader role and changed their leadership methods. The management of parental groups was after the course perceived as an important work task and the nurses included time for planning, preparation and evaluation, which they felt improved their parental groups. Parental participation in the activities in the group had become a key issue and they used their new exercises and tools to increase this. They expressed feeling more confident and relaxed in their role as group leaders and felt that they could adapt their leadership to the needs of the parents.ConclusionsSpecific training might strengthen the CHS nurses in their group leader role and give them new motivation to fulfil their work with parental groups.Trial registration Clinical Trials.gov ID: NCT02494128.

Lessons learned from child health care nurses' experiences of teaching infant massage groups: A qualitative interview‐based study

“…In Sweden, child health care nurses earn their master's degrees either as district nurses or paediatric nurses. They lead group-based parental support classes (Lefevre, 2016), where infant massage sometimes occurs (Garmy, 2007(Garmy, , 2012. While the effects of infant massage are explored in the literature (Field, 2018;Mrljak et al, 2022;Pados & McGlothen-Bell, 2019), there is a lack of qualitative research on the experiences of healthcare professionals, such as child health care nurses.…”

Mothers' experience of infant massage in child health care: A qualitative interview study

“…The child health care nurses' mission also includes supporting the parents in their parental role through parenting support to promote the child's health and psychosocial development (Lefevre, 2016). Parenting support can be provided individually or in groups, and it is important that the child health care nurse is sensitive to what suits the individual parent (Swedish Association of Local Authorities and Regions, 2019).…”

“…Child health care services are staffed by Registered Nurses with specialization in public health and children and young people, also known as child health care nurses. Their main task is to promote children's health and prevent ill health (Lefevre, 2016).…”

“…The child health care nurses' mission also includes supporting the parents in their parental role through parenting support to promote the child's health and psychosocial development (Lefevre, 2016).…”

“…However, it can be difficult to reach the parents who are most in need of parental support, especially those who come from other countries and cultures (Skoog, 2022). The child health care services in Sweden reach almost 100% of families regarding individual health visits and checkups however, only about 50% of those invited to attend parental groups (Lefevre, 2016).…”