Voimaperheet intervention introduced at maternity and child health clinics

The Voimaperheet intervention is a form of support for the prevention and treatment of childhood behavioural problems. It includes an assessment of the need for psychosocial support for all families as part of the four-year examination at the maternity and child health clinic, as well as parent training online and by phone to families who report behavioural problems in their children and feel burdened by the problems.

At the beginning of the year, a digitalised universal positive parent training intervention (“Ole läsnä”, duration 8 weeks), aimed at parents of three-year-old children, was introduced at the maternity and child health clinics in Western Uusimaa. You will receive a registration code when you have tested your suitability for the programme by clicking this link, which leads to a Voimaperheet questionnaire and the registration to parent training(external link). Alternatively, you can ask for a registration code from the nurse at the three-year maternity and child health clinic visit. The programme is available in Finnish and Swedish.

Moreover, families with four-year-old children in Western Uusimaa are offered a digitally assisted parent training intervention for disruptive behaviour (“Huomaa hyvä lapsessasi”, duration 11 weeks). For this parent training, the families are screened using the Voimaperheet maternity and child health clinic questionnaire, which is sent to all families in the area during the month preceding the child’s fourth birthday. The form contains questions concerning the child’s behaviour and mood, as well as things related to the wellbeing of the family. The families return the questionnaire to a nurse at the child health clinic during the four-year health check, and the answers are then sent to the Research Center for Child Psychiatry at the University of Turku (Voimaperheet). Families that state in the questionnaire that their child shows burdening behavioural problems are contacted and provided with an opportunity to participate in an individual parent training programme and the associated, EU-funded Digiparent research project.

Families participate for free, voluntarily, and confidentially. 

The training is carried out centrally from the Research Center for Child Psychiatry at the University of Turku. The programme is available in Finnish and Swedish.

Website of the Western Uusimaa maternity and child health clinics Maternity and child health clinics | Western Uusimaa Wellbeing Services County (luvn.fi)

Website of the Western Uusimaa child health clinics Child health clinic | Western Uusimaa Wellbeing Services County (luvn.fi)(external link)

Voimaperheet videos for families:

Ole läsnä lapsellesi video for families in Finnish(external link)

Ole läsnä lapsellesi video for families in Swedish(external link)

Digitalized Universal Positive Parent Training Intervention (Ole läsnä) (University of Turku)

Digitally Assisted Parent Training Intervention for Disruptive Behavior in 4-Year Old Children (Voimaperheet – Huomaa hyvä lapsessasi) (University of Turku)

Further information:

https://sites.utu.fi/voimaperheet/en/(external link)

olelasna@utu.fi