Children’s routes to participation in support groups: motives, barriers, and benefits from children’s and parent’s perspectives

In Sweden, preventive support groups for children exposed to domestic violence, substance abuse, or mental illness in the home are provided by local child welfare services. The stigma associated with parental problems and the involvement of child welfare services are barriers to children’s participation in support groups. This article examines the motives, barriers, and benefits according to children and parents by exploring children’s routes into such support groups. The analysis uses individual interviews with children with recent experience of support groups and their parents, guided by health belief and help-seeking models. The results show that children’s routes into child welfare services’ support groups depend on their parent’s motives and help-seeking actions and are linked to access to the broader support system. There are perceived barriers to participation such as stigma and the unwanted involvement from child welfare services, but there are also perceived benefits to be gained from talking to others and sharing experiences. The need to reframe our understanding of people’s engagement in preventive interventions in the context of child and family social work is examined