Health education and social advice for low-income families with young children

EmpowerKids addresses social exclusion and inadequate health information and social advice among the children in low-income families in Estonia, Finland and Latvia. Currently, health and social workers lack methods and approaches for promoting daily healthy choices for young children in families with low socio-economic status.  There is need for more appealing methods to improve the situation in vulnerable families, which can be found in cooperation between the cities and universities.

Traditionally, low income families and young children are considered a difficult target group to be reached with the health information, even if they need support the most. Research confirms that socioeconomic status of the family is directly correlated with the experienced health of its members, as well as with social inclusion and participation in the labour market. People with lower education and income experience poorer health, their social participation is lower, and they are more often excluded from the labour market. Their children’s health, social inclusion and future socioeconomic prospects are strongly affected.

To improve matters, the project will be working with an interview-based interactive tool that facilitates health and social advices for children and their families. The EmpowerKids Tool, developed by all partners with the methodological support of University of Turku, will utilize targeted counselling and interventions, according to the real needs. The cross-border cooperation will allow partners to learn from each other, share experiences and support each other with their specific expertise.
The project results will be widely distributed through the existing and developing networks in Central Baltic and beyond. The results include children who are able to make healthy choices in their daily lives, improved quality of health promotion, social work in participating municipalities, enhanced social inclusion of children from vulnerable groups, increased knowledge of health care personnel, social workers and kindergarten teachers about the empowering tools and methods.