Elucidating the child’s perspective in health promotion: children’s experiences of child-centred health dialogue in Sweden

Abstract

<jats:title>Summary</jats:title> <jats:p>Promoting young children’s health through health promotion activities is an investment for the future. In the Child Health Services in the south of Sweden a structured Child-Centred Health Dialogue (CCHD) directed to all 4-year-old children was developed using illustrations based on the most important health messages associated with the promotion of healthy lifestyle in preschool children. The aim of this study was to explore the experiences of children participating in CCHD using 21 non-participant observations during their 4-year health visit and additionally 16 individual interviews 0–7 days after their visit, conducted in the child’s home in the presence of a caregiver. Children participated as social actors when guided to express their views based upon their own understanding was the overall main category generated from the qualitative content analysis. The children showed that they liked to participate actively but could influence their choice to participate. They expressed their views based on their daily life and wanted to understand the meaning of the information with which they interacted. The study revealed that 4-year-old children given the opportunity to speak for themselves—elucidating the child’s perspective—interpreted the health messages in a different way than the intended meaning of the illustrations developed by adults. These findings are important for the improvement of CCHD and underline the utmost importance of including children in research on health promotion. This study supports the view that 4-year-old children can take an active role in their health and are capable of making health information meaningful.</jats:p>

A challenging balancing act to engage children and their families in a healthy lifestyle – Nurses' experiences of child‐centred health dialogue in child health services in Sweden

“…A recently published study support the view that children can and want to take an active part as social actors in health‐promoting activities concerning their own health such as CCHD. However, pictures and health messages were interpreted according to the child's experiences which were sometimes not in accordance with what the nurse had intended (Derwig et al, 2020). In the light of this, further emphasis on the child's right to be part of its own care and ways to facilitate this could possibly be put in the CCHD lectures in order to strengthen the CCC approach during CCHD.…”

A child‐centered health dialogue for the prevention of obesity in child health services in Sweden – A randomized controlled trial including an economic evaluation

“…3 The nurses working in the Swedish CHS are guided in their work by the digital National Handbook for Child Health Services. 19 In spring 2016, the illustrations developed for CCHD 30,31 were published in the national handbook and nurses in Skåne received a 30-minute introduction to the illustrations, but were not trained in the CCHD approach. They also received a traditional 120minute lecture on child overweight and the BMI growth chart, without possibility for discussion or reflection.…”

“…34,36,37 CCHD builds on trust and partnership to promote child health and offers caregivers the choice to receive additional extra visits or a referral, which is based on the knowledge that compulsory care without choice might not give sustainable healthy behaviors. 38 CCHD was tested for feasibility 30 , and both children 31 and caregivers 33 experienced active participation and supportive guidance in the health dialogue.…”

Health Literacy in Early Childhood: A Systematic Review of Empirical Studies

“…After removing the duplicates, 513 studies remained. The 12 studies reviewed in the analysis present different domains of health literacy pertaining to children [ 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 ], which deal with different areas of health literacy among children under eight years old ( Table 1 ).…”

“…Despite the fact that in recent years, examining the effects of interventions during early childhood has become a priority for researchers [ 40 , 41 ], only a few studies deal with the HL level of children under the age of eight [ 42 , 43 , 44 , 45 , 46 , 47 , 48 , 49 , 50 , 51 , 52 , 53 ]. However, studying this field is essential because the establishment of a preventive health attitude and the formation of health-related good habits occur in early childhood [ 15 ].…”