Finnish Parents Research Articles

Perceptions of patient education during hospital visit – described by school‐age children with a chronic illness and their parents

Families having a child with a chronic disease face changes in their everyday lives, and the whole family is involved in patient education. Nurses bear a great responsibility for patient education, but their school-age patients' and their parents' perceptions of patient education have only been studied to a limited extent. The current study aimed to explore the elements of significant patient education events during a hospital visit described by school-age children with a chronic illness and their parents. The design was qualitative and descriptive. A total of nineteen Finnish parents and their 12 children aged 5-12, suffering from chronic diseases, were interviewed using a critical incident technique. The data were analysed by deductive content analysis. The descriptions of patient education comprised cases with parents' shock at the outset of the patient education sessions and cases with the outcome of these sessions, including an experience of empowerment or lack of it. The patient education practices were examined by determining nursing, didactic and interpersonal competences. Nursing competence involved illustrations of knowledge and the ability to care for children and families as well as knowledge of the disease and its management. Didactic competence comprised practical examples of knowledge of teaching and the ability to implement the education process. Interpersonal competence manifested itself in the ability to have a dialogue. The findings show the importance of comprehensive patient education competence required of nurses giving education to families having children with chronic illnesses. This knowledge can be applied to promote nurses' professional training and to develop patient education.

Social representations of educability in Finland: 20 years of continuity and change

This study set out to replicate a survey conducted 20 years ago on Finnish parents’ social representations of educability. A nationwide sample of parents (N = 642) were asked to indicate their opinions on a set of statements pertaining to topical educational issues. The results indicated that educational discussion is still structured by two major competing representations of intelligence, the ‘natural’ and the ‘social’, and the corresponding educational policies, the ‘selective’ and the ‘comprehensive’. Further, some novel and still relatively independent representations, such as the diversity of human abilities and entrepreneurship education, were identified. The comprehensive representation found support particularly among the vocationally educated parents, who were worried about social equality, while the selective representation, i.e., the ideology of natural giftedness, found support among the academically educated fathers. The representational field of educability seemed quite established, indicating relative continuity of educational discourse.

A Case Study of Parents' School Choice Strategies in a Finnish Urban Context

This article analyses how Finnish parents of sixth graders in a comprehensive school act in the local ‘school markets' of the case city. The parents' subject positions as choosers are reflected on and explored in relation to the discourses and resources they use when discussing their school choices. The data were gathered in 2009 by administering a questionnaire ( n = 374) and by conducting interviews with 76 of the respondents. The main data used here were thematic interviews, which were analysed using the discoursive approach. The analysis revealed that the parents used three different types of subject positions and discourses when having conversations about their choices and when considering their options. These discourses used were partly overlapping and unexpectedly social, and cultural resources were capitalised on less than previously assumed. Contrary to earlier European research on school choices, most parents in this study were not eager to choose any other school than their allocated local school, because they trusted the quality of Finnish comprehensive schools. The parents' thoughts and actions were notably guided and governed by the local school authorities, according to whom the local school is good enough.

The use of complementary and alternative medicine products in preceding two days among Finnish parents - a population survey

BackgroundThe use of complementary and alternative medicines (CAM) has been extensively studied globally among adult and paediatric populations. Parents, as a group, had not been studied to assess their knowledge and attitude to CAM and general medicine use. This study is necessary since parents' attitude to medicine use is known to influence their child's attitude to medicine use later in life. We therefore aim to assess the extent and types of CAM use among Finnish parents, and to determine the factors that promote the CAM use. Also, we aim to determine parents' attitude to general medicine use.MethodsChildren less than 12 years old, as of spring 2007, were identified from the database of the Finnish Population Register Centre and were selected by random sampling. The parents of these children were identified and a questionnaire was sent to them. Only the parent who regularly takes care of the child's medicine was requested to fill the questionnaire. Cross-tabulations and Chi-square test were used to determine the associations between categorical variables. CAMs were defined as natural products that are not registered as medicines, such as homeopathic preparations, dietary food supplements, and traditional medicinal products.ResultsThe response rate of the survey was 67% (n = 4032). The use of CAM was 31% in the preceding two days. The most commonly used CAM products were vitamins and minerals, followed by fish oils and fatty acids. Prescription and OTC medicines were used concomitantly with CAM by one-third of the parents. CAM was frequently used by parents over 30 years (33%), female parents (32%), highly educated parents (35%), and parents with high monthly net income (3000-3999 euros, 34%). The users of CAM had more negative attitudes towards medicines than non-users of CAM.ConclusionsOur findings are in accordance with those of previous studies that women over 30 years of age with a high education and income typically use CAMs. Finnish parents seem to use CAMs as complementary rather than alternative to medicines. Health care professionals should take into consideration both the concomitant use as well as the negative attitudes among CAM users in encounters with the parents.

Parent, Teacher and Student Cross Informant Agreement of Behavioral and Emotional Strengths: Students With and Without Special Education Support

Information from multiple sources is recommended when assessing students’ emotions and behaviors. Relatively few studies about cross informant agreement of behavioral and emotional strengths exist, especially for students with special education needs. The purpose of this study was to extend the cross informant agreement research of the Behavioral and Emotional Rating Scale (BERS-2) with a sample of Finnish parents, teachers and students. First, we studied the cross informant agreement of students’ behavioral and emotional strengths between informants. Second, we explored the agreement separately for students with and without special education needs. Finally, we studied the convergent and divergent (discriminant) correlations of the Finnish BERS-2. The results show that the cross informant agreement of students’ behavioral and emotional strengths were small to large with correlation coefficients ranging from .11 to .58 between different informants. The cross informant correlations, however, were higher in magnitude for students who receive special education support (r = .29 to .78) than for those students who do not receive support (r = −.02 to .45). Mean convergent correlations were higher than mean divergent correlations. The results suggest that the Finnish BERS-2 is a reliable measure in assessing student strengths across informants. The limitations, future research directions, and implications are discussed.

Breastfeeding attitudes of Finnish parents during pregnancy.

BackgroundBreastfeeding attitudes are known to influence infant feeding but little information exists on the prenatal breastfeeding attitudes of parents. The purpose of this study was to describe Finnish parents' prenatal breastfeeding attitudes and their relationships with demographic characteristics.MethodsThe electronic Breastfeeding Knowledge, Attitude and Confidence scale was developed and 172 people (123 mothers, 49 fathers) completed the study. The data were analysed using factor analysis and nonparametric methods.ResultsBreastfeeding was regarded as important, but 54% of the respondents wanted both parents to feed the newborn. The mean rank values of breastfeeding attitudes differed significantly when parity, gender, education, age, breastfeeding history and level of breastfeeding knowledge were considered. The respondents who were expecting their first child, were 18-26 years old or had vocational qualifications or moderate breastfeeding knowledge had more negative feelings and were more worried about breastfeeding than respondents who had at least one child, had a higher vocational diploma or academic degree or had high levels of breastfeeding knowledge. Respondents with high levels of breastfeeding knowledge did not appear concerned about equality in feeding.ConclusionsBoth mothers and fathers found breastfeeding important. A father's eagerness to participate in their newborn's life should be included in prenatal breastfeeding counselling and ways in which to support breastfeeding discussed. Relevant information about breastfeeding should focus on the parents who are expecting their first child, those who are young, those with low levels of education or those who have gaps in breastfeeding knowledge, so that fears and negative views can be resolved.

Effectiveness of an internet-based intervention enhancing Finnish parents’ parenting satisfaction and parenting self-efficacy during the postpartum period

Background the postpartum period presents several challenges related to learning infant care tasks, getting to know the infant and fulfilling self-expectations as parents. There is a need to evaluate the effectiveness of information-technology-based interventions that support parenting during this period. Objective to evaluate the effectiveness of an internet-based intervention to support mothers’ and fathers’ parenting satisfaction and parenting self-efficacy (PSE). Design a quasi-experimental design with a non-equivalent control group and repeated measures. Setting two public maternity hospitals (intervention/control) in southern Finland. Participants a convenience sample of mothers and/or fathers ( n=1300 families). The inclusion criteria were primipara or multipara, and at least one parent willing to participate. Multiple birth, non-Finnish speaking and early discharge parents receiving home visits were excluded. A total of 500 mothers and 242 fathers returned complete sets of questionnaires. Intervention the intervention offered online support for parenting, breast feeding and infant care beginning from the middle of pregnancy. It comprised an information database, a peer discussion forum and expert advice. Measurements outcomes were measured by the Evaluation Subscale of the What Being the Parent of a New Baby is Like-Revised and parenting self-efficacy instruments after childbirth and six to eight weeks post partum. Findings both intervention and control mothers’ parenting satisfaction and PSE increased significantly during the postpartum period. Fathers’ parenting satisfaction and PSE also increased, but this change was only significant in the case of PSE. Both parents felt that their affective skills related to PSE were the weakest after childbirth. During the postpartum period, affective skills improved more than cognitive and behavioural skills. Different groups of mothers and different groups of fathers showed an equally positive change in parenting satisfaction and PSE. Conclusion both intervention and control mothers’ and fathers’ parenting satisfaction and PSE became more positive during the postpartum period. However, no intervention effects were found. In the future, it would be interesting to study longer-term effects and more specific groups of parents. The results indicate that online support has the potential to reach parents from diverse backgrounds. More research is needed on gender differences and user preferences. More interactive methods are needed to support parents’ affective skills related to PSE.

Parental experiences and attitudes regarding the management of acute otitis media--a comparative questionnaire between Finland and The Netherlands

Both treatment guidelines and the amount of antibiotics used for acute otitis media (AOM) vary across western countries. Parental expectations and their awareness of antimicrobial use and resistance, which may also be influenced by the guidelines, are not yet completely known. To compare parental experiences and opinions regarding the management of AOM in children with AOM in Finland and The Netherlands. We sent the questionnaires via public day care in Turku, Finland, and Utrecht, The Netherlands. We asked about family background, child's history of AOM and parental experiences and attitudes about AOM treatment and antimicrobial resistance. Of 1151 participants, 83% in Finland and 49% in The Netherlands had had at least one episode of AOM. Antibiotics were used more frequently in Finland than in The Netherlands, 99% versus 78%, respectively. More Finnish parents reported to believe that antibiotics are necessary in the treatment of AOM as compared to Dutch parents. Use of analgesics for AOM was similar (80% in Finland and 86% in The Netherlands). One-third of the parents had discussed resistance with their doctor. According to parental experiences, antimicrobial resistance had caused more problems in Finland than in The Netherlands (20% versus 2%). Finally, 88% of parents in Finland and 65% in The Netherlands were worried that bacteria could become resistant to antibiotics. Treatment practices and parental expectations seem to interact with each other. Therefore, if we aim to change AOM treatment practices, we have to modify both guidelines and parental expectations.

Parents’ Participation in Their Child’s Schooling

The present study set out to survey Finnish parents’ participation in their child’s schooling and related experiences. The subjects were a nationally representative group of academically and vocationally educated fathers and mothers (N = 391) who had a child on the fifth grade. A great majority of the parents reported that they attended the parent evenings and saw them in a positive light. Most parents helped their child in her/his schoolwork, though some of them were doubtful of their own competence for it. The choice of schools, which was considered mainly by urban parents and academically educated parents, seemed to introduce a new private element into parental participation without changing the existing communal forms of participation.

A Tale of Two Countries: Comparison of the Perceptions of Analgesics Among Finnish and American Parents

Our purpose was to compare parental perceptions regarding children's analgesics in Finland and the USA. Data were collected from 315 Finnish and 110 American parents of children undergoing surgery using questionnaires. Cross-tabulation, and χ 2 were used in the analysis. Parents thought that analgesia should be given regularly, but more American than Finnish parents thought analgesics should be given to the child before the pain becomes severe. Additionally, more American than Finnish parents stated that children easily become dependent on analgesics and that analgesics for home use may be dangerous for children. Nurses should be aware of parents' incorrect perceptions which may be barriers to children's pain relief.

Cooperation between parents and school nurses in primary schools: parents’ perceptions

Cooperation between pupils' parents and school nurses is an important part of health promotion in primary schools. Developing frank and trusting relationships contributes to easy and uninhibited cooperation. Cooperation between parents and school nurses has not been widely researched internationally. This article reports on parents' views on cooperation with school nurses in primary schools. The study aims at contributing to school nurses' work so that instead of focusing only on the children, family nursing approaches could be improved. Nineteen parents from 13 families from southern Finland were interviewed for the study in 2004. The data were analysed by grounded theory and the constant comparative method was utilized. Six concepts describing parents' views on cooperation were generated on the basis of the data. Cooperation consists of supporting the child's well-being. School nurses take children's and parents' concerns seriously and intervene effectively if the child's health is threatened. School nurses' expertise is not very visible within school communities. Hoping to receive information and desiring parental involvement are important concepts of cooperation with the school nurse. The child's family is not sufficiently known or taken holistically into consideration when the child's health is promoted. Parents are the initiators of cooperation within school health care and parents describe this by the concept of one-sided communication. Parents do not know about school nurses' work and school health services. They would like to be more involved in school nursing activities. When developing children's health services, parents' expertise in their children's well-being should be paid more attention. This study enhances the knowledge of family nursing by describing Finnish parents' perceptions of cooperation with school nurses. The findings facilitate the understanding of cooperation in school health services.

An Outsider's View of Beginning Literacy in Finland: Assumptions, Lessons Learned, and Sisu

Even though Finnish students continually score at the highest levels on international reading tests, little attention is given to Finland's reading education programs. Dismissing Finnish attainments often is based on the attitude that the Finnish language is simpler, due to a close one-to-one sound/symbol match and that Finland is an isolated country that does not experience the same social complications as other countries. This study is based on direct observations of first-grade classrooms in Finland, as well as interviews of Finnish children, parents, teachers, and university professors. Results suggest that teacher autonomy and family attitude, along with their uses of reading, and the Finnish personality characteristic of “sisu” provide insight into their academic success.

Child-Rearing Values of Estonian and Finnish Mothers and Fathers

This study compares the child-rearing values of mothers and fathers of 4 to 6-year-old children in Estonia and Finland. All samples assign the most value to characteristics related to benevolence, self-direction, and being trustworthy. Valuing smartness and politeness is specific to the Estonian culture, and valuing hedonism is specific to the Finnish culture. Compared with Estonian parents, Finnish parents tend to stress benevolence, hedonism, and bad habits rather than conformity and achievement; their child-rearing values are more homogeneous; and the values held by a mother and father from the same family reveal more similarities. Estonian mothers attach more importance to benevolence and conformity than do Estonian fathers. Child-rearing values do not differ according to the child's gender. The findings suggest that differences in child-rearing values related to parental gender depend on the cultural context.

Child-Parent Agreement in the Assessment of Young Children's Fears

Finnish and Estonian parents' assessments of their 5- to 6-year-old children's fears (selected items of the Ollendick Fear Survey Schedule) were compared with children's self-reported fears in a semistructured interview that included a picture-aided section. Representative samples from Finland and Estonia consisted of 330 child-parent pairs. The level of agreement between the informants'assessmentswas lowin both countries. Children reported more fears than did their parents in comparable items. Parents in both countries seem to underestimate children's fears. These findings suggest that children should be primary informants of their fears. In addition, the same types of differences in children's fears were revealed between the countries irrespective of the informant. Finnish children expressed more fears related to issues of mental overexcitation; the fears of Estonian children more often concerned concrete people's behavior.

Germ-Cell Testicular Cancer in Offspring of Finnish Immigrants to Sweden

Abstract Variation in testicular cancer incidence can be used to assist in identification of risks. Finland has a significantly lower germ-cell testicular cancer risk than Sweden. Finns who immigrate to Sweden maintain their lower risk irrespective of age at immigration. We investigated difference in risk between Finland and Sweden by examining germ-cell testicular cancer incidence in males born in Sweden to Finnish immigrant parents. Swedish general population registers were used to identify 11,662 males born in Sweden where both Finnish parents immigrated to Sweden from Finland from 1969 or afterward. All of these offspring were at least 15 years old by final follow-up in 2001. Some six offspring (all diagnosed between ages 20 and 24 years) had a diagnosis of germ-cell testicular cancer. Comparison with the Swedish population rate produced standardized incidence ratios [SIR (95% confidence interval)] of 0.85 (0.31-1.84) for all the men and 1.75 (0.64-3.81) for the 20- to 24-year age group. SIRs calculated using the Finnish population rates produced an overall SIR (95% confidence interval) of 1.11 (0.41-2.41) and 2.95 (1.08-6.42) for the 20- to 24-year age group. Although the substantially reduced risk of testicular cancer previously observed in Finnish immigrant to Sweden was not found, this study had insufficient statistical power to conclude that environmental exposures explain the difference in germ-cell testicular cancer risk between Finland and Sweden.

A Measure of Parents' Assessments of Their Children's Abilities

The present study assessed the psychometric properties of a multidimensional measure of parents' assessments of their children's abilities, including problem-solving skills, social skills, dexterity, creativity, and learning motivation. A nationwide sample of Finnish parents (N=432), representing two educational groups, both mothers (64%) and fathers (36%) whose mean age was 37.8 yr. (SD=5.3), were asked to assess their children's abilities during preschool and at the end of the first and the third school year. A set of analyses of this longitudinal data indicated that the scales had adequate internal and temporal consistency, the factor structure showed invariability across time, and the scales related meaningfully to the parents' perceptions of their children's competencies in different school subjects.

The tension between overt talk and covert emotions in illness narratives: transition from clinician to researcher.

In this article I discuss my interview experiences as joint constructions with Finnish parents whose children had been diagnosed with cancer. In doing so both the interviewer and interviewees became engaged as anxious "defended subjects" in an intersubjectivity of acknowledging but unable to talk of "how it really is" to have a child diagnosed with cancer. This appeared as tensions between overt talk and covert emotions. In the overt talk the parents underlined the manageable aspects of the illness. The speechless and painful part of the illness experience appeared as covert emotions that the interviewer was able to recognise and contain. Only when both the overt talk and the covert emotions were taken into account did it open up a more comprehensive way to understand the depth of the illness suffering. This is illustrated with one interview as an example.

Parents' Explanations of Their Child's Performance in Mathematics and Reading: A Replication and Extension of Yee and Eccles

This study was conducted to examine whether Finnish parents would endorse the “the classic gender-related attribution pattern” and explain their son's mathematical performance in terms of talent and their daughter's in terms of effort. In addition, we examined whether the pattern of attributions would be the opposite in regard to parental explanations of their child's reading performance. A group of parents (N = 486), both mothers and fathers, were requested to assess the level of competence of their 1st grader in mathematics and reading. The parents were also asked to recall events from their child's 1st school year in which the child succeeded and failed in mathematics and reading; they were then asked to evaluate the importance of talent, effort, and task to the child's outcomes. The parents of boys assessed their child's mathematical competence to be higher than did the parents of girls. Furthermore, the parents of boys rated talent as a more important reason for their child's mathematical success than did the parents of girls. In contrast, the parents of girls rated effort as a more important reason for their child's mathematical success. Although the girls were perceived to surpass boys in reading, the girls' positive outcomes in reading were explained by effort more than the boys' outcomes, and at the highest level of assessed competence, the boys' verbal talent was rated as a more significant cause of success in reading than the girls' verbal talent. In sum, our results suggested that in both mathematics and reading, girls were not entitled to ability-based attribution to the same extent as were boys.

Parent and teacher expectations for developing young children: A cross-cultural comparison between Ireland and Finland

SUMMARY The aim of this study was to compare parent and teacher expectations concerning the development and learning of 3 to 5-year-old children cross-culturally using national representative samples in Finland and Ireland. Expectations concerning the following areas were examined: preacademic skills, motor/physical skills, self-expression, language skills, social skills with peers, social skills with adults, self-sufficiency and self-assessment. Respondents were asked to rank the importance of these areas, to predict the expectation preferences from each others point of view and to prioritise developmental and learning responsibilities both from their own point of view and each others. The results show that both in Ireland and Finland teachers consider social skills with peers the most important skills for the development of 4 to 5-year-olds. However, the importance of language and preacademic skills was stressed more among Irish than Finnish teachers. In Finland the importance of self-sufficiency was considered more central. Finnish parents agreed almost totally with teachers' preferences while in Ireland the level of agreement was low. The differences between the countries were even clearer when comparing what teachers perceived as being their responsibilities. Teachers in Ireland felt quite strongly that both preacademic skills and language skills were among their responsibilities while this was not the case in Finland, where preacademic skills were considered the least important.

Education, Gender, and Educational Goals

A survey showed that the goals of 936 Finnish parents for their children's education—“self-goals” and “instrumental goals”—were related to their education and gender.