title: Parents' experiences of parental groups in Swedish child health-care: Do they get what they want?
abstract: Almost all parents in Sweden are invited to parental groups organized by the child health service (CHS) during their child's first year, but only 40% chose to attend. The aim of this study was to describe parents' experiences of participating in these parental groups. A total of 143 parents from 71 different parental groups at 27 child health-care (CHC) centres in one Swedish county completed an online questionnaire. A majority of the parents found the parental groups to be meaningful and more than 60% met someone in the group who they socialized with outside the meetings. Parents wanted a greater focus on child-related community information, existential questions, relationships and parenting in general. Group leadership seems to be of significance to how parents in a group connect and whether the parental role is affected. Making CHC nurses more aware of the topics parents desire could help them meet parents' needs. Education and training in group dynamics and group leadership could be of value in further improving the high-quality service CHC nurses already offer parents. More knowledge is needed about what would attract those parents who do not participate.
authors.affiliation: Lund University, Sweden asa.lefevre@med.lu.se.
authors.forename: Åsa
authors.initials: Å
authors.lastname: Lefèvre
authors.affiliation: Lund University, Sweden.
authors.forename: Pia
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Lundqvist
authors.affiliation: Lund University, Sweden.
authors.forename: Eva
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Drevenhorn
authors.affiliation: Lund University, Sweden.
authors.forename: Inger
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Hallström
mesh_terms: D002662:Child Health Services; D005260:Female; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008297:Male; D016487:Parenting / Q000523:psychology; D010290:Parents / Q000193:education* / Q000523:psychology; D010371:Pediatric Nursing; D011320:Primary Health Care; D012944:Social Support; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D013548:Sweden
keywords: Family-centred care; health promotion; nurse–family relationships; parenting support; primary care