Parental education as viewed by nurses. An interview study

This interview study of nurses in three health centres in Växjö municipality in Sweden sought to find out how they perceived their work with parental education. The aim was to study the possibilities of and any obstacles to achieving the goals of good parenthood training on equal terms for all people. The results showed areas where further development is needed. It appears to be difficult to achieve the goals. Parents' needs for educational measures differed depending on social, cultural, and gender differences. Young single mothers rarely took part in the parents' groups. They belonged to a minority whose needs and problems differed from those of the majority of parents. Also immigrant parents rarely participated in parents' groups. According to the nurses, this may have been due to cultural differences in child care and difficulties with the Swedish language. To give fathers more scope and opportunity to take part, it was suggested that special fathers' groups should be set up. To sum up, families with specific needs should be given more individual education and guidance by nurses. This study, confined to one geographical area, has only shed light on a few nurses' perceptions of parental education, so the findings merely serve to indicate a trend. More general knowledge would require further research-oriented trial projects with the focus on the parents' perspective.