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Identifying children at risk in Swedish Child Health Services
Mattias Wennergren1,2,3, Anna Fäldt4
1General Practice, Family Medicine, School of Public Health and Community Medicine, Institute of Medicine, Sahlgrenska Academy, University of Gothenburg, Sweden.
Insights
Child Health Services in Sweden show significant sociodemographic variations among families. Understanding these differences is crucial for equitable child healthcare delivery and resource allocation.
Area of Science:
- Public Health
- Pediatrics
- Sociology
Background:
- Child Health Services are vital for early identification and intervention in at-risk children.
- Sociodemographic factors significantly influence the demands on Child Health Services and national healthcare programs.
Purpose of the Study:
- To characterize the sociodemographic profiles of families utilizing Swedish Child Health Services.
- To analyze these characteristics using the Child adjusted Care Need Index.
Main Methods:
- Data collected from children aged 0-6 years and their caregivers across 981 Swedish child healthcare centers.
- A sociodemographic index was created for each center by linking child identification numbers with caregiver background information.
Main Results:
- The study encompassed 687,543 children and 1,335,540 caregivers.
- Significant variations in sociodemographic factors (e.g., caregiver origin, single parenthood, unemployment, education level) were observed both within and between regions.
- Approximately 21% of children had caregivers from outside the EU/Europe, 7% from single-parent households, 17% with unemployed caregivers, and 9% with caregivers lacking high school education.
Conclusions:
- A wide dispersion in sociodemographics exists across Swedish child healthcare centers.
- This variability must be considered by regions and national agencies utilizing the Child adjusted Care Need Index for resource planning and service provision.
Background:
Child Health Services plays an important role in identifying at-risk children and intervening early to break negative trends in child health. Sociodemographic risk factors can impact the workload of Child Health Services and affect the possibilities of providing the national child healthcare programme.
Aims:
This study aims to present the sociodemographic characteristics of families who are registered within the Child Health Services, as defined by the Child adjusted Care Need Index.
Methods:
By collecting personal identification numbers from children six years or younger registered at a child healthcare centre, and combining this with their caregiver's sociodemographic background, this study was able to create a sociodemographic index for each child healthcare centre in Sweden.
Results:
The study included 687,543 children and 1,335,540 caregivers from 981 child healthcare centres in Sweden. Approximately 21% of all children in the study population had a caregiver born in Southern or Eastern Europe outside the European Union, or in Africa, Asia, or South America, 7% had single parents, 17% had at least one unemployed caregiver, and 9% had at least one caregiver who had not completed high school. The average input values and the average index values varied widely both between and within the regions.
Conclusions:
This study displays a large variation in sociodemographics for child healthcare centres both within and between regions. Since several regions and national agencies in Sweden use the Child adjusted Care Need Index, it is necessary to keep the dispersion in mind.
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