title: The cultural meaning of children sleeping outdoors in Finnish winter: a qualitative study from the viewpoint of mothers.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Little is known about children sleeping outdoors in a northern winter climate, although it is a common practice in northern countries. The article describes the cultural meaning of this child care practice from the viewpoint of mothers.
  
  
  METHODS
  Explorative descriptive study design was adopted and unstructured interviews were processed by qualitative content analysis.
  
  
  METHODS
  Twenty-one mothers of families in northern Finland participated.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Family, cultural outdoor sleeping practice and northern winter environment constituted compatibility, which consisted of four generic categories: strengthening family well-being through outdoor sleeping, taking notice of security perspectives, adaptation to the northern winter environment, and cultural knowledge-building processes.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Family well-being was strengthened through outdoor sleeping of children when all security perspectives were first taken into account. Families were adapted to the northern winter environment and cultural knowledge was built. A fit was found between families, cultural child care practice, and northern winter environment constituting a coherent whole.
authors: Institute of Health Sciences, University of Oulu, Oulu, Finland. marjo.tourula@oulu.fi
authors: Marjo
authors: M
authors: Tourula
authors: Tarja
authors: T
authors: Pölkki
authors: Arja
authors: A
authors: Isola
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005190:Family / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000523:psychology; D005260:Female; D005387:Finland; D015438:Health Behavior / Q000208:ethnology*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice / Q000208:ethnology*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D009035:Mothers / Q000523:psychology*; D012621:Seasons; D012890:Sleep