Middle Managers’ Views on Participation in a Home Visiting Program for First-Time Parents in Scania, Sweden

Abstract

Family home visiting programs delivering early childhood services are supported by politicians and policy makers in many countries. This study focuses on a home visiting program for first-time parents in a county in Sweden. The program comprises six home visits conducted by interprofessional teams, including child healthcare nurses, midwives, social workers and dental hygienists, with the aim to increase accessibility to child healthcare and to promote more equal health in young children. Child healthcare, maternal care, social services and dental care organisations participated voluntarily in the program. This study explores how middle managers of the participating organisations view the program. Data were collected from semi-structured interviews with ten middle managers. The interviews were analysed using qualitative content analysis as a method. The results show that the middle managers saw the home visiting program as beneficial for society, parents and children, and the participating organisations and professionals. In other words, they expressed both altruistic goals and a self-interest in participating. The study is of importance as middle managers’ decision to participate in a home visiting program might be grounded on their perceptions of the program.