“There is no reward penny for going out and picking up youths”: issues in the design of accessible youth healthcare services in rural northern Sweden

Cecilia Hultstrand AhlinEmail author View ORCID ID profile,
Dean Carson and
Isabel Goicolea

BMC Research Notes201912:74

https://doi.org/10.1186/s13104-019-4108-4

Received: 31 August 2018
Accepted: 31 January 2019
Published: 4 February 2019

Abstract

Objective

There is a continuing challenge to ensure equitable access to youth healthcare services in small rural communities. Sweden’s ‘youth clinic’ system is an attempt to provide comprehensive youth health services from a single centre, but many small rural communities have not adopted the youth clinic model. This study uses one case study to examine what the issues might be in establishing a youth clinic in a small rural community. The objective of this paper is to examine the issues around youth healthcare access in one municipality without a youth clinic, and to explore whether and how a youth clinic model might contribute to access in this municipality.

Results

Three categories emerged from the analysis; (i) rural closeness; both good and bad, (ii) youth are not in the centre of the healthcare organization, and (iii) adapting youth clinics to a rural setting. While limited to one case example, the study provides valuable insights into youth health service planning in particular types of rural communities. This paper identified structural barriers to developing youth-specific services, and some alternative approaches that might be more suitable to smaller communities.