Promotive and risk factors for children’s mental health—Finnish municipal policymakers’ and leading officeholders’ views

Abstract

Findings on children’s mental health promotion at the policy level are scarce, and the perceptions of the municipal administration on factors affecting children’s mental health have not been reported. This study describes the perspectives of policymakers and leading officeholders on promotive and risk factors for children’s mental health in a socioecological context. The perspectives of Finnish policymakers (n = 15) and officeholders (n = 10) in municipalities were examined using semi-structured interviews. The data were analyzed using inductive content analysis and were categorized according to the five levels of a socioecological model of health promotion: public policy, community, organizational, interpersonal and individual levels. The public policy level emerged strongly in the findings, specifically strategic planning and implementation challenges related to the promotion of children’s mental health in the municipality and state administration. At the community level, environmental factors promoting children’s mental health as well as risk factors were described. The organizational level consisted of support, requirements and development needs in children’s services. The importance of family and close networks at the interpersonal level, as well as the individual basis of mental health, were also evident. The integration and better collaboration of child and family services, the use of child rights impact assessment in political decision-making, and financial support from the state could contribute to improving strategic planning to support children’s mental health at the municipal level.

Timely support for promoting mental wellbeing among families with young children –an interview study exploring the experiences of multi-professional practitioners in Finland

“…They also suggested enabling factors and opportunities for developing future practice to better meet the diverse needs of families and the complex and changing social and health service and societal landscapes. Thus, the study findings may provide insight into why mental health promotion for children and their families previously has been perceived to not work optimally from a professional perspective [ 6 , 17 , 18 ].…”

“…The work of practitioners within the public sector was perceived to be affected by limited resources, which in turn influenced the ability to work proactively to prevent mental health problems and promote mental wellbeing. Previous studies have highlighted that personnel targets for child mental health services in Finland are not currently being met, which affects both the quality and the service supply, and more resources for services aimed at promoting family wellbeing are being requested [ 17 ]. The practitioners in this study described an imbalance between the needs of families and the availability of services, which meant that families with more complex support needs were often prioritized and primary prevention and promotion work given low priority.…”

“…Even though proactive work approaches (mental health promotion and primary and secondary prevention) are currently emphasized in Finnish national legislation [ 13 , 16 ] and policies [ 2 ] at different levels [ 17 ], previous findings [ 17 , 18 ] highlight that mental health promotion and early prevention services for children are not currently working effectively. The aim of the current study was therefore to explore Finnish social and health care practitioners’ views and experiences of current mental health promotion practice for families with young children (under the age of seven).…”