As Steady as a Rock! Gaining Insight in Recruitment and Retention Among Primary School Children With Behavioural Problems in Sport Mix Club.

The number of children dealing with behavioural problems is increasing. A major challenge in many health-supportive programmes is the recruitment and retention of these children. In the current study, Sport Mix Club (SMC), an approach to enhance socioemotional disorders of 4- to 12-year-old children through sport classes in municipality Vaals, the Netherlands, is used as an illustration. Where many studies faced difficulties getting and keeping children in their interventions, SMC overcame this challenge. Therefore, we decided to explore "What factors contribute to enhanced recruitment and retention procedures among children with behavioural problems in Sport Mix Club?" A qualitative case study design using the analysis of the administrative logbook of the SMC coach and trainees, individual interviews with the SMC coach, trainees (n = 2), school teachers (n = 3) and parents of participating children (n = 9), and four focus group interviews with children (n = 13) were carried out. During the recruitment and retention of SMC, the human psychological need of relatedness seemed to be of crucial value. The fact that the SMC coach: (1) made efforts to become a familiar face for children, parents and community partners beforehand; (2) showed enthusiasm; and (3) placed her focus on having fun as opposed to the children's problems, seemed to be decisive in the process of getting children to participate in SMC and retaining their participation.

The Power of Trading: Exploring the Value of a Trading Shop as a Health-Promoting Community Engagement Approach.

Involving and engaging vulnerable communities from the very beginning is important if we wish to enhance general well-being. With a focus on equal partnership with low-socioeconomic status (SES) families, a Trading Shop in Vaals was developed as a community engagement initiative. In the current study, we focused on the participation process, from preparation to sustaining the Trading Shop, in order to define whether the Trading Shop can be successful in engaging families through focusing specially on their needs and perceived positive health. A formative case study design was carried out to monitor, evaluate, and timely adjust the developments within the Trading Shop by using participatory action research. The Trading Shop was monitored from its preparation to its opening, as well as during the start and the steps taken towards continuation in the form of municipal policy. The results showed one central theme during all phases: the optimal navigation between top-down support from professionals and bottom-up developments among the volunteers in the Trading Shop. With the input from both approaches, it was possible to create an optimal environment for the volunteers to achieve personal development. The inclusivity and accessibility of the Trading Shop as a community engagement initiative offered the opportunity to volunteers to enhance their needs, realizing personal growth and development of their talents in several positive health domains.

Small Successes Make Big Wins: A Retrospective Case Study towards Community Engagement of Low-SES Families.

In health-promoting interventions, a main difficulty is that low socioeconomic status (SES) groups especially seem to experience barriers to participation. To overcome this barrier, the current study focused on the success factors and obstacles in the process of supporting low-SES families in becoming partners, while carrying out small-scale activities based on their needs. A retrospective case study design was used to construct a timeline of activities organized by and together with low-SES families based on mainly qualitative data. Next, key events were grouped into the four attributes of the resilience activation framework: human, social, political, and economic capital. The following key lessons were defined: professionals should let go of work routines and accommodate the talents of the families, start doing, strive for small successes; create a functional social network surrounding the families, maintaining professional support over time as back-up; and create collaborative governance to build upon accessibility, transparency and trust among the low-SES families. Continuous and flexible 'navigating the middle' between bottom-up and top-down approaches was seen as vital in the partnership process between low-SES families and local professional partners. Constant feedback loops made the evaluation points clear, which supported both families and professionals to enhance their partnership.

With whom are you dealing? Using social network analysis as a tool to strengthen service delivery structures for low socioeconomic status populations.

Background: Health disparities between populations with different socioeconomic status (SES) are increasing. Although a wide variety of support service organizations and arrangements are in place, no general overview of this social network, its reach, and harmonization of services surrounding low-SES populations are available. The present participatory health research study examined the current network structure and the utility of using social network analysis (SNA) as a tool to improve service delivery structures. Design and methods: We applied a mixed-methods study design. An online-questionnaire was used to examine the relationships among organizations assumed to support low-SES individuals in the municipality of Vaals, the Netherlands. In addition, semi-structured interviews and a networking session were used to examine the current network structure and to explore opportunities for improvement. Results: The SNA revealed a weak network structure, and all interviewed professionals mentioned that the current structure should be improved. Participants indicated that a first step would be to install a central information system. Conclusions: SNA can be a useful tool to gain more in-depth insights into the relations within a service delivery network. The professionals were assisted in discovering new organizations that could help them reach low SES populations and in harmonizing and improving their service delivery.

Shining light inside the tunnel: using photovoice as a strategy to define the needs for health promotion among families of low socioeconomic status.

PURPOSE: This study aimed to identify opportunities to improve the current health and social situation of low socioeconomic status (SES) families and to gain a better understanding of the main needs regarding health promotion. Low-SES families were approached to participate in a photovoice study. METHOD: The study took place in the municipality of Vaals, which is located in the southernmost part of the Netherlands. A diverse group of ten people from eight different families took about 150 photographs within their community on topics they considered important for their health and quality of life. This was followed by individual interviews and a focus group interview. RESULTS: Four main needs were identified: meeting each other, helping each other, feeling safe and being mobile. The photographs showed that health-related themes had low priority for these families. CONCLUSION: The low-SES families focused on upstream factors relating to independence, self-resilience and a sense of belonging, to help them cope with their current situation. This study represents a first step towards the development of a community approach to health promotion in low-SES families.

Population Characteristics and Needs of Informal Caregivers Associated With the Risk of Perceiving a High Burden: A Cross-Sectional Study.

This study explored the population characteristics and needs of informal caregivers reporting a low or high burden. A cross-sectional study was conducted in the Netherlands to explore the associations between the characteristics and needs of informal caregivers and the burden they perceive and to assess the variance in perceived burdens that is explained by these variables. Three thousand sixty-seven adult informal caregivers and 1936 senior informal caregivers participated, almost 15% of whom perceived a high burden. Particularly caregivers in the 40 to 54 age group perceived a high burden, while caregivers with an intermediate educational level reported a low burden. Higher burden was also reported by caregivers who spent more time on the care provision tasks, had a high level of depressive symptoms, or reported loneliness. The explored variables seem to be important to explain caregiver burden. Longitudinal research is warranted to establish the causal directions of these associations.