AIM: The aim of this study was to investigate if essential health and development data of all children in Sweden in the Child Health Service (CHS) and School Health Service (SHS) can be linked to the classification system International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health - Children and Youth (ICF-CY). Method: Lists of essential health terms, compiled by professionals from CHS and SHS, expected to be used in the national standardised records form the basis for the analysis in this study. The essential health terms have been linked to the codes of ICF-CY by using linking rules and a verification procedure. RESULTS: After exclusion of terms not directly describing children's health, a majority of the health terms could be linked into the ICF-CY with a high proportion of terms in body functions and a lower proportion in activity/participation and environment respectively. Some health terms had broad description and were linked to several ICF-CY codes. The precision of the health terms was at a medium level of detail. CONCLUSION: ICF-CY can be useful as a tool for documenting child health. It provides not only a code useful for statistical purposes but also a language useful for the CHS and SHS in their work on individual as well as population levels. It was noted that the health terms used by services mainly focused on health related to body function. This indicates that more focus is needed on health data related to child's functioning in everyday life situations.

Aim: This study aims to analyse and link the content of the health information requested in questionnaires used locally in Swedish child and school health services. Background: In industrialized countries, children's health needs are changing from physical to psychosocial needs and the questionnaires used for health screening and guiding health promotion must therefore adapt to these changes. Methods: Questionnaires were analysed, together with health items linked to the International Classification of Functioning, Disability and Health for Children and Youth (ICF-CY). The inter-rater agreement for linking was 80%. Standard age groups were used to improve the comparability across different questionnaires. Results: The information requested for the youngest children focused on communication and acquiring language. For the children aged 6 years and above, health questionnaires related to mental functions, the school situation, psychosomatic symptoms and issues associated with taking care of one's health. Conclusions: The information relating to health in questionnaires revealed that interest focused on health items strongly related to the different age groups and to psychosocial health. The focus was the child as a person rather than the child within a family and school environment.

Background: High-quality documentation of children’s health is an important priority in health care given trends of declining mental health and reduced well-being in children. There is a lack of information concerning psychosocial health in the standardized part of the national health record in the Child Health Service and the School Health Service in Sweden. Further, little is known if the free text notes in the health record, besides information on physical health, also include information on children’s psychosocial health. The aim of this study was to describe what is recorded concerning children’s health and development in free text notes.

Methods: The study was based on a retrospective analysis of text using an inductive approach for qualitative analyses of content.

Results: The analysis of the free text notes in the health records yielded seven categories: development, family, health problems, living habits, medical issues, preschool/school and leisure, and well-being. The categories mainly covered psychosocial aspects of health and were not only about health and development problems of the child but also what was covered during the visits. The information was unevenly distributed across the ages. A stronger focus on the youngest age groups within a family and preschool setting is needed. There was novel information in the free text notes such as pain, general health, emotions, mother’s mental health and leisure activities, which was not covered in the standardized part of the health records.

Conclusion: The free text notes mainly reflected a psychosocial perspective on health. The findings of this study suggest that requesting more information on children’s psychosocial health in the standardized part of the health records could contribute to more comprehensive and informative health records in the Child health Service and the School Health Service in Sweden.

AIM: To investigate how nurses and physicians in the Child and School Health Services view the documentation and transfer of health information. Another aim concerns their perceptions of a nationally standardized electronic health record.

BACKGROUND: Problems of mental health among children and adolescents currently pose one of the greatest challenges facing all European countries. The continuity of health work demands that all health information follow the child's development, disregarding the organizational arrangement.

METHODS: The study was descriptive and comprised 484 questionnaires to nurses and physicians in the Child and School Health Services in Sweden.

RESULTS: More information about children's health was transferred than documented in the health record when children started school. This additional health information concerned psychosocial health and foremost family function. There was a consensus concerning the usefulness of a nationally standardized electronic health record, although there were group differences between nurses and physicians.

CONCLUSIONS: All information about children's health is not documented although the professional's positive perceptions to electronic health records may provide a basis to improve documentation.

IMPLICATIONS FOR NURSING MANAGEMENT: The results indicate challenges to develop a common language to document psychosocial issues necessary for providing a holistic view of children's health.