Children with impairments are known to experience more restricted participation than other children. It also appears that low levels of participation are related to a higher prevalence of mental health problems in children with neurodevelopmental disorders (NDD). The purpose of this conceptual paper is to describe and define the constructs mental health problems, mental health, and participation to ensure that future research investigating participation as a means to mental health in children and adolescents with NDD is founded on conceptual clarity. We first discuss the difference between two aspects of mental health problems, namely mental disorder and mental illness. This discussion serves to highlight three areas of conceptual difficulty and their consequences for understanding the mental health of children with NDD that we then consider in the article: (1) how to define mental health problems, (2) how to define and assess mental health problems and mental health, i.e., wellbeing as separate constructs, and (3) how to describe the relationship between participation and wellbeing. We then discuss the implications of our propositions for measurement and the use of participation interventions as a means to enhance mental health (defined as wellbeing). Conclusions: Mental disorders include both diagnoses related to impairments in the developmental period, i.e., NDD and diagnoses related to mental illness. These two types of mental disorders must be separated. Children with NDD, just like other people, may exhibit aspects of both mental health problems and wellbeing simultaneously. Measures of wellbeing defined as a continuum from flourishing to languishing for children with NDD need to be designed and evaluated. Wellbeing can lead to further participation and act to protect from mental health problems.

Childhood obesity is increasing in Sweden. All children are offered regularly spread health visits to a school nurse. As health visits include a measure of height and weight and a health dialogue, school nurses can discover, disclose, and treat a child's weight gain. The aim of this study was to describe school nurses’ experiences and challenges in working with childhood obesity. This qualitative study collected data through focus-group discussion and semi-structured interviews with ten female school nurses from six municipalities. Data were analysed inductively using manifest qualitative content analysis. The study was reported using the COREQ guidelines. Stigmatization and lack of resources are major challenges for school nurses working with childhood obesity, and they experience frustration, powerlessness and feel that they provide unequal treatment. The present study concludes that obesity stigmatization is a widespread challenge for school nurses. They cannot alone generate all the resources needed or conquer all challenges. Evidence-based guidelines, increased knowledge, time for reflections and peer support could potentially empower school nurses, reduce frustration, and improve the quality of and equality in childhood obesity treatment.

The current study investigated the structural validity and internal consistency of the Strengths and Stressors (SSF) questionnaire. The SSF is used in Swedish habilitation services to measure the positive and negative consequences that the fostering of a child with a developmental disability can have on family functioning in six domains: parent's feelings and attitudes, social life, family finances, relationship to the other parent, siblings, and professional support. The proposed six‐factor model was tested with confirmatory factor analysis with data collected from 291 parents of children with developmental disabilities. The six‐factor model had an acceptable fit according to most fit indices, but two items were non‐significant. Overall, the internal consistency was acceptable or good. The SSF, with the proposed six‐factor solution, can be a useful tool when assessing parental perspectives on the impacts of having a child with a developmental disability in clinical settings and research.

There is a need for an instrument to measure participation and independence in children with disabilities. FUNDES-Child-SE has its origin in the participation questionnaire Child and Adolescent Scale of Participation. Test the psychometric properties of internal consistency and test-retest reliability. This cross-sectional study included caregivers of 163 children with disability aged 6-18 years, 59 of whom were also included in the test-retest study. Descriptive statistics were used to evaluate the proportions of valid ratings. Internal consistency and test-retest reliability were tested through Cronbach's alpha and the intra-class correlation coefficient. The amount of not relevant/not applicable ratings was substantial but varied between items and subdomains. Internal consistency was acceptable (0.8-0.95), and the test-retest was marginal to excellent (0.73-0.95). The reliability together with the content validity support the use of the FUNDES-Child-SE to measure participation and independence in children with disabilities. However, results should be interpreted with caution due to the small sample size and possible selection bias. Modifications to reduce the not relevant/not applicable responses should be investigated together with the instrument's responsiveness. FUNDES-Child-SE can be used to facilitate a discussion of participation and independence and to plan interventions in a habilitation setting.

Adolescents' participation in physical exercise (PE) in sports clubs and self‐organised training has decreased over time, while screen‐time (ST) has increased. Boys exercise more and play more video games than girls, and adolescents without disabilities exercise more than adolescents with disabilities. This study aims to explore trends in patterns of PE and ST, and the association with gender and disability. Cross‐sectional data from 3949 Swedish adolescents aged 12–14 and 15–18 years were used. Participation in sports, training, watching TV & movies, and playing video games was analysed annually for 2013–2019 by hierarchical cluster analysis with k means rotation. Clusters' centroids were compared across years. Associations with gender and disability were tested with regression analysis. In both age groups, five to six clusters were identified each year. Most adolescents are in exercising patterns. The proportions in patterns of sporting and ST increased between 2013–2015 and 15–18‐year‐olds in not‐exercising patterns decreased continuously. Exercising and not‐exercising patterns show stable trends, while ST patterns no longer have similar structures after 2016. More clusters in 2013–2016 than 2017–2019 are associated with gender. No cluster in 12–14‐year‐olds and four clusters in 15–18‐year‐olds are associated with disability. The study provides a new perspective on trends in patterns of PE and ST from 2013 to 2019 in Swedish adolescents. Results indicate an increased polarisation in activity patterns yet decreased polarisation between genders, and that adolescents with disabilities have the same activity patterns as other adolescents. Further research into other factors potentially influencing adolescents' activity patterns is needed.

Background: FUNDES‐Child‐SE is a proxy rating questionnaire for measuring participation and independence in children with disabilities in a Swedish context. It includes the components of frequency of attendance, engagement and independence. The original, Taiwanese FUNDES‐Child 7.0, has previously been found to have a four‐factor structure for frequency of participation and a two‐factor structure for independence. The aim of this study was to test the factor structure in FUNDES‐Child‐SE. The factor structure is an important part of construct validity.Methods: Caregivers of 163 children with disabilities aged 6–18 years participated in this cross‐sectional study. Exploratory factor analysis was used to find the factor structure for Engagement. Confirmatory factor analysis was used to test the factor structure for all three components.Results: The proposed factor structure for frequency of participation (daily living participation frequency, mobility participation frequency, learning participation frequency and community participation frequency) and independence (daily living independence and social participation independence) fit with data from FUNDES‐Child‐SE after excluding three to five items and adding two to five covariances of residuals. In the engagement component, two factors, named engagement in informal activities and engagement in formal activities, were found. After excluding one item and adding 10 covariances of residuals, the factor structure had an acceptable fit to data.Conclusions: Differences in components' factor structure indicate that attendance and engagement are separate aspects of participation. Before using numeric scores from FUNDES‐Child‐SE in clinical settings, responsiveness and interpretability should be evaluated.