Extended prenatal and postnatal home visits in a vulnerable area in Sweden—a pilot study
Journal article, 2023

Objective: Despite close to all-embracing access to child healthcare, health divides exist among children in Sweden. Home visits to families with new-born babies are a cost-effective way to identify and strengthen vulnerable families. An extended postnatal home visiting programme has been implemented in a disadvantaged suburb in Stockholm with positive results. Design: Longitudinal, prospective study and register study from medical records. Setting: A vulnerable rural area in Sweden. Intervention: A parent advisor from the social services and a midwife performed an extended home visiting programme during the end of pregnancy to mothers of children born between 1 May 2018 and 31 May 2019. During these children’s first 15 months, three additional home visits were made by a parent advisor and a child healthcare nurse. The aim of the study is to evaluate the effect of the intervention on the health of the children and the mothers. Subjects: All firstborn children at the study site (N = 30 study, N = 55 control group). Main outcome measures: The proportion participating in visits to the child and maternal healthcare services, children being breastfed and receiving childhood vaccinations. Results: There were fewer absentees in the study group during routine check-up visits (93 vs. 84%). More mothers in the study group attended the check-up with the midwives (90 vs. 80%). More children in the study group were breastfed (90 vs. 67%) and received all vaccinations (100 vs. 96%). Conclusion: Supplementing the extended home visiting programme with a visit at the end of pregnancy seems to contribute to fewer absentees at routine visits for both mothers and children; furthermore, more children were breastfed and vaccinated compared with the control group.

vulnerable populations

Sweden

Child health services

social support

health status disparities

house calls

maternal-child health centers

Author

Kuo Zhe Chin

Närhälsan Guldvingen Healthcare Centre

R&D Centre Skaraborg Primary Care

Bertil Marklund

University of Gothenburg

Region Västra Götaland

Sven Kylén

Chalmers, Technology Management and Economics, Service Management and Logistics

Region Västra Götaland

Sofia Dalemo

Närhälsan Guldvingen Healthcare Centre

University of Gothenburg

R&D Centre Skaraborg Primary Care

Scandinavian Journal of Primary Health Care

0281-3432 (ISSN) 1502-7724 (eISSN)

Vol. 41 4 486-494

Subject Categories

Pediatrics

Nursing

Public Health, Global Health, Social Medicine and Epidemiology

DOI

10.1080/02813432.2023.2277756

More information

Latest update

3/7/2024 9