Family Entrepreneurs

Family Entrepreneurs

 

Can an antenatal education program make couples expecting a child more confident in the role as parents? Family Entrepreneurs is a municipal initiative targeted first-time parents, who through meetings with a health visitor and relevant experts hopefully will be better prepared for their new phase in life.

Time period:

2014 – 2017.

Target group:

All first-time parents living in Aarhus Municipality.

Number of participants:

Around 2.000 voluntarily participating pregnant women and their partners.

Intervention:

Family Entrepreneurs is a free offer to new parents that provides the parents with information, advice and inspiration to give them a good start as a family.

Family Entrepreneurs is developed under the project name Familie med Hjerte in cooperation with Holstebro Municipality, Central Denmark Region, and the local business community, and has later been developed further to other municipalities.

In Aarhus Municipality, Familieiværksætterne runs over a period of one and a half year and includes 12 meetings with other first-time parents and a health visitor. From meeting to meeting, the health visitor is supplemented by different professionals, such as a psychologist, a physiotherapist, and a bank adviser. Through presentations, the professionals will tell parents about different topics, such as language development, eating habits and finances. The purposes of Family Entrepreneurs are to give the parents:

  • Useful knowledge about the child’s development
  • A safe forum to ask questions, share experiences, and solve problems in the bud
  • A strong network with other new parents
  • Tools to handle the first years after the birth

Research:

The effects of Family Entrepreneurs are evaluated in a randomized controlled trial, in which the randomization is carried out at the family level. The aim is to examine whether information, support, and a social network can improve the participating parents’ and the child’s development, well-being and health, their involvement in and relation to the child and to each other as parents.

The randomization will split the group of participants in two. One half of the parents will, in addition to the usual antenatal education and individual sessions at the midwife, the physician and the health visitor, also be offered the Family Entrepreneurs-program. The other half are only offered the general practice, such as antenatal education and the individual sessions. By randomizing the participants into the two groups and following them over time, any measurable effects can be ascribed to the program.

Partners:

Aarhus Municipality and Aarhus University Hospital.

Results:

Are expected in 2018.

Publications

No publications in English yet.