Parents' experiences of participating in health-promoting activities at a family centre for preschool children in Sweden.

In Sweden, the family centre is a meeting place for families in a neighbourhood. It is a place for families to meet and exchange experiences and is a confidence-filled place for preschool children to play and develop. The staff at the family centre collaborate on early prevention strategies to promote health. Since 2014, the Public Dental Health Service in Södra Ryd, Skövde, has been a collaborative partner with the family centre. OBJECTIVES: To explore and describe the parents' experiences of participating in health-promoting activities at the family centre. BASIC RESEARCH DESIGN: A qualitative design based on interviews, analysed using a phenomenograpic approach. PARTICIPANTS: Six focus groups with two to six participants in each group. RESULTS: Three themes, all describing parents' experiences of visiting the family centre, emerged in the analysis. The themes were as follows; "Social fellowship", "A secure place" and "A learning environment". Each theme contained three categories, which represent the parents' different conceptions. CONCLUSIONS: The present study showed that the parents who visit the family centre found that the collaboration is perceived as positive and has many benefits. The participants found that the family centre is an institution that increases social interaction. Furthermore, meeting dental professionals in an arena outside the clinic creates confidence and makes people feel secure. Parents also learn both from the staff and from each other. According to these findings, the family centre is a suitable arena to work on health-promotion activities.

Experience of collaboration at a family centre for preschool children in Sweden.

In 2014, the Public Dental Health Service in Södra Ryd, Skövde, started a collaboration at the local family centre with the aim of performing health-promoting activities. Personnel at the family centre can play an important role in promoting children's health, including oral health, by testing preventive guidance. OBJECTIVES: To describe the personnel's experience of collaboration. BASIC RESEARCH DESIGN: Qualitative interviews with transcripts analysed using the phenomenographic approach. PARTICIPANTS: Seven staff with experience of collaboration. All were female, aged 34-62 and were dental nurses, child health-care nurses, preschool teacher or family centre co-ordinators. RESULTS: Three themes describing personnel's experience of collaboration at the family centre emerged: Collaboration produces an holistic approach, Co-location creates added value and Working methods result in development. Each theme was represented by three to four categories that represent different conceptions of collaboration at a family centre. CONCLUSIONS: The staff had found that the way of working was positive, mainly because it gave an increased overall view and that the co-location created added value. It also created development through mutual learning and new methods. However, it took time to establish collaboration and required permissive leadership.

Caries and costs: an evaluation of a school-based fluoride varnish programme for adolescents in a Swedish region.

UNLABELLED: In 2003, 19 public dental clinics in Västra Götaland Region implemented a population-based programme with fluoride varnish applications at school every six months, for all 12 to 15 year olds. In 2008, the programme was extended to include all 112 clinics in the region. OBJECTIVE: To evaluate caries increment and to perform a cost analysis of the programme. BASIC RESEARCH DESIGN: A retrospective design with caries data for two birth cohorts extracted from dental records. Three groups of adolescents were compared. For Group 1 (n = 3,132), born in 1993, the fluoride varnish programme started in 2003 and Group 2 (n = 13,490), also born in 1993, had no fluoride varnish programme at school. These groups were compared with Group 3 (n = 11,321), born in 1998, when the programme was implemented for all individuals. The total cost of the four-year programme was estimated at 400SEK (≈ 44€) per adolescent. RESULTS: Caries prevalence and caries increment in 15 year olds were significantly lower after the implementation of the programme. Group 2, without a programme, had the highest caries increment. The cost analysis showed that it was a break-even between costs and gains due to prevented fillings at the age of 15. CONCLUSIONS: This school-based fluoride varnish programme, implemented on a broad scale for all 12 to 15 year olds, contributed to a low caries increment at a low cost for the adolescents in the Västra Götaland Region in Sweden.