Children's perspectives on preventive youth health services: a focus group study among Dutch children

Children's perspectives on optimal health care are rarely considered in health care research. These routine health assessments are carried out by Youth Health Care services (YHC), which provide school health care as part of preventive care for children. The aim of this study is to explore the perspectives of children aged 9 to 12 years old, on current routine health assessments in Dutch school health services and how these could be improved to better align their preferences and needs.

We conducted a qualitative focus group study with Dutch primary school children, 9 to 12 years old, who received their routine health assessment from YHC in the past twelve months. Discussion topics included experiences with preventive youth health care services, preferences regarding involvement of parents, and suggestions for improvement of the services. Reflexive thematic analysis was conducted using the 6-step approach by Braun and Clarke.

Six focus groups were conducted with in total 41 children. We identified four main themes; 'We want more! Monitoring health matters to children'; 'Feeling safe and comfortable: be the nice and sweet professional in a two-way conversation'; 'Parents know a lot, but not everything: mixed feelings on their role and presence', and 'Preventive youth health care should be organized more attractive'.

Our sample of Dutch children perceived preventive routine health assessments as important to monitor their health and suggested more frequent and comprehensive assessments. The children's perspectives, provided relevant insights in how to design child-friendly preventive youth health care.