To See and Be Seen: A Swedish Register Study on Children Who Witness Family Violence.

Authorities and civilians can make a report-of-concern to Social Services if they suspect a child is experiencing or witnessing violence. In 2021, Sweden implemented new legislation that considers children as victims of crime not only when abused but also when witnessing family violence, i.e.

Parents' comprehensive health literacy and child health after attending extended home visiting in Swedish multicultural settings-A case-comparison study.

Background: Parents' low health literacy (HL) has negative impacts on child health. Parental interventions may improve parents' HL and thus impact child health positively.

Objectives: This study aimed to gain knowledge about associations between parents' comprehensive HL (CHL) and child health after an extended postnatal home visiting program in Swedish multicultural, disadvantaged settings compared to parents receiving regular child healthcare (CHC).

Perceptions of Health and Wellbeing Among Employees in a Work Integration Social Enterprise in Sweden.

Background: Work Integration Social Enterprises (WISEs) constitute an important vehicle for providing employment opportunities for disadvantaged groups.

Objective: The goal of this qualitative case study is to explore perceptions of health and wellbeing among employees working in a WISE located in the Gävleborg region, in east central Sweden.

Methods: Data were gathered using 16 in-depth, semi-structured interviews with the social enterprise employees.

Changes in Comprehensive Health Literacy Among First-Time Parents Attending Extended Home Visiting in Swedish Multicultural Settings: A Case-Comparison Study.

Introduction: This study aimed to gain knowledge about the impact of an extended postnatal home visiting program on parents' comprehensive health literacy (CHL) in multicultural, socioeconomically disadvantaged Swedish settings.

Method: This quasi-experimental study adopted a case-control sampling method recruiting first-time parents through two Child Health Care Centers in Stockholm. Participants were interviewed twice through structured questionnaires when their child was aged between less than two months (n = 193) and 15-18 months (n = 151) from October 2017 to August 2020.

Public Health Aspects of Climate Change Adaptation in Three Cities: A Qualitative Study.

Climate change presents an unprecedented public health challenge as it has a great impact on population health outcomes across the global population. The key to addressing these health challenges is adaptation carried out in cities through collaboration between institutions, including public health ones. Through semi-structured interviews ( = 16), this study investigated experiences and perceptions of what public health aspects are considered by urban and public health planners and researchers when planning climate change adaptation in the coastal cities of Söderhamn (Sweden), Porto (Portugal) and Navotas (the Philippines).

Towards health equity: core components of an extended home visiting intervention in disadvantaged areas of Sweden.

Background: Understanding the mechanisms of implementation of public health interventions in community settings is a key aspect of programme assessments. To determine core components and establish a programme theory are important tools to improve functioning and support dissemination of programme models to new locations. An extended early childhood home visiting intervention has been developed on-site in a socioeconomically disadvantaged area of Sweden since 2013 with the aim of reducing persisting health inequities in the population.

Psychometric qualities of the HLS-EU-Q16 instrument for parental health literacy in Swedish multicultural settings.

Background: Health literacy (HL) is important for individuals in terms of knowledge and competence to make decisions about healthcare, health promotion and disease prevention. Migrants generally demonstrate lower HL levels compared to the majority populations. HL interventions among migrants are rarely studied.

Covid-19 and pathways to health inequities for families in a socioeconomically disadvantaged area of Sweden - qualitative analysis of home visitors' observations.

Background: Lack of control over life situations is an important social determinant that may negatively affect parental and child health. This study took place in an area of Stockholm, Sweden with high indications of socioeconomic disadvantage, a large part of the population with foreign background, as well as higher levels of poor health than the county average. It investigated staff perceptions of pathways from situations of low control, potentially leading to health inequities, affecting families enrolled in an early childhood home visiting programme during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Experiences of involuntary job loss and health during the economic crisis in Portugal.

Background: The economic recession that started in 2008 left many unemployed across several European countries. Many studies have analyzed the relationship between job loss, health, and well-being in other contexts. This study aimed to explore experiences of involuntary unemployment during the economic recession and their relationship with health, conceptualized as a state of physical, mental, and social well-being among unemployed individuals.

Contributions of Preventive Social Services in Early Childhood Home Visiting in a Disadvantaged Area of Sweden: The Practice of the Parental Advisor.

Early childhood home visiting to improve health and development is commonly delivered by child health care (CHC) whereas home visitors from the social services are rare. We applied a constructivist grounded theory approach to explore the practice and contributions of parental advisors from the preventive social services in a home visiting collaboration with CHC in a socioeconomically disadvantaged area of Sweden. The analysis rendered a conceptual model of a situation-based practice, built on interactive encounters between parents and professionals.

Healthcare utilisation and measles, mumps and rubella vaccination rates among children with an extended postnatal home visiting programme in a disadvantaged area in Stockholm, Sweden-A 3-year follow-up.

Aim: To follow up healthcare utilisation and measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccination rates among children 0-36 months, receiving an extended postnatal home visiting programme in a disadvantaged area with poorer child health, and in control groups, in Stockholm, Sweden.

Methods: We analysed electronic child health records regarding outpatient visits, inpatient episodes and MMR vaccination for children 0-36 months receiving the home visiting programme (Intervention Group) and in control groups (Control Group and Rinkeby Comparison Group).

Results: Children in the Intervention Group had significantly higher MMR vaccination rate than children in the Rinkeby Comparison Group.

Strengthening resilience through an extended postnatal home visiting program in a multicultural suburb in Sweden: fathers striving for stability.

Background: To improve prerequisites for better health development among children growing up in multicultural suburbs in Stockholm County, where poorer health is displayed in several aspects including child health, early support was initiated for first-time parents in one of the suburbs. An extended postnatal home visiting program during the child's first 15 months was offered to families with first-time mothers during 2013-2014 and consisted of six home visits by a child health care nurse and a parental advisor from social services. Almost all invited families (94%) participated in the program and the program evaluation.

What value for whom? - provider perspectives on health examinations for asylum seekers in Stockholm, Sweden.

Background: In Sweden asylum seekers are offered a voluntary health examination, free-of-charge (HE). The HE coverage is low. The organization and implementation of the HE involves collaboration between different agencies with different roles within the provision of health information and service.

A better start for health equity? Qualitative content analysis of implementation of extended postnatal home visiting in a disadvantaged area in Sweden.

Background: Health inequities among children in Sweden persist despite the country's well-developed welfare system and near universal access to the national child health care programme. A multisectoral extended home visiting intervention, based on the principles of proportionate universalism, has been carried out in a disadvantaged area since 2013. The present study investigates the content of the meetings between families and professionals during the home visits to gain a deeper understanding of how it relates to a health equity perspective on early childhood development.

Experiences of unemployment and well-being after job loss during economic recession: Results of a qualitative study in east central Sweden.

Several studies have revealed an association between unemployment and ill health, and shown that unemployment can affect people differently. This study aimed to provide an understanding of the experiences of unemployment and perceptions of wellbeing among persons who involuntary lost their work during the recent economic recession in Gävle Municipality. Sixteen unemployed men and women aged 28-62 were interviewed face-to-face.

Practising proportionate universalism - a study protocol of an extended postnatal home visiting programme in a disadvantaged area in Stockholm, Sweden.

Background: In spite of a well-developed welfare system in Sweden, there are important health divides between residential areas in Stockholm county, with shorter life expectancy in disadvantaged areas. These socioeconomic and health divides also affect children. Extra efforts and organized collaboration by different authorities are required to meet the greater needs of children growing up in these areas.

Promoting health of people with intellectual disabilities: Views of professionals working in group homes.

Deinstitutionalisation has influenced the life situation for people with intellectual disabilities, whilst the experiences of health promotion in group homes now are limited. This study aimed to explore aspects important to consider when promoting health amongst persons with intellectual disabilities in group homes, from the perspective of professionals. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with seven professionals and were analysed with thematic analysis.

Keep going in adversity - using a resilience perspective to understand the narratives of long-term social assistance recipients in Sweden.

Introduction: In Sweden, means-tested social assistance serves as a temporary, last resort safety net. However, increasing numbers of people are receiving it for longer periods and about a third has assistance for more than a year. The aim of this study was to explore the ways social assistance recipients manage long lasting adversity and their roles as active, rather than passive, agents in this process, using a resilience perspective.

Dilemmas in providing resilience-enhancing social services to long-term social assistance clients. A qualitative study of Swedish social workers.

Background: Long-term recipients of social assistance face barriers to social and economic inclusion, and have poorer health and more limited opportunities for improving their health than many other groups in the population. During recent decades there have been changes in Swedish social policy, with cutbacks in public benefits and a re-emphasis on means-tested policies. In this context, it is important to investigate the necessary conditions for social workers to offer social assistance and services, as well as the mediating role of social workers between public policies and their clients.

Living on social assistance with chronic illness: Buffering and undermining features to well-being.

Background: In Sweden, the social security and sickness insurance systems are comprehensive and aim to provide people whose illness prevents them from earning their own living, with either sickness benefits or disability pension. Some, however, are not entitled to these benefits or receive social insurance benefits at a level too low for subsistence, and are referred to social assistance. The purpose of this study was to explore in depth how social assistance recipients with chronic illness perceive and respond to the experience of living on social assistance.

Tales of the unexpected? Hidden resilience in poor households in Britain.

Society tends to have low expectations for the health, employment, and family stability of people living in poverty and disadvantage, reinforced by a body of research focused on risk factors and negative outcomes. This 'deficit model' has pervaded policy and interventions to tackle inequalities in health, in particular in relation to area-based initiatives to improve the health of socio-economically disadvantaged communities. In contrast, the study presented here adopts a positive approach, specifically that of resilience, which we conceptualise as: the process of achieving positive and unexpected outcomes in adverse conditions.

Can I risk using public services? Perceived consequences of seeking help and health care among households living in poverty: qualitative study.

Objectives: To improve understanding of how families living in adverse conditions perceive their encounters with public services and how past experiences influence current and future attempts to seek help.

Design: Qualitative interviews with adult members of households living in poverty in deprived areas, plus observations conducted in the surrounding neighbourhoods and service settings.

Participants: Purposive sample of 25 adults living in a deprived area, on welfare benefits.

Studying social policy and resilience to adversity in different welfare states: Britain and Sweden.

Is poverty more damaging to health in Britain than in Sweden, and if so, why? Following previous research by the authors that suggested such an effect, a new comparative study is examining whether there are aspects of the social and policy context in Britain that add to and reinforce the health-damaging experience of being poor. Conversely, are there other aspects of living in Sweden that are supportive for people in poverty, which make the experience of poverty less stressful and health-damaging? Stemming from this ongoing study, the aim of this article is to present a framework for understanding the context in which social welfare policies are formed and operate in Britain and Sweden. It then uses the framework to consider the "upstream" influences of ideology, culture, and values on policy development in the two countries and what these developments might mean for the health and well-being of people facing financial adversity in the two societies.