The aspects of starting a large family

*Zsuzsanna Kiss Soósnè¹, Andrea Kovács², Judit Kókai³

Summary
Introduction. Being raised in a large family is not only favourable regarding the development of the child but beneficial for the whole society as well. In Hungary fewer and fewer children are born and the number of children growing up in large families has been decreasing. So the examination of this field of subject from the perspective of healthcare has valid ground.
Aim. By studying the questionnares and interviews with students of the Semmelweis University Faculty of Health Sciences (SE ETK) we’ve tried to explore what can be done by healthcare professionals to improve the family planning of the youth. We focused on the opinions of health visitor students who were raised in big family. What are they thinking about starting their own family and how their origin and the healthcare system affects it? What are their views on the resources a large family provides?
Material and methods. The second, third and fourth year nurse, midwife and health visitor students of SE ETK filled out a quantitative questionnaire in spring 2012 as a part of a research launched in 2007, called ”Students’ Plans to Start a Family”. The size of the sample was 257. In this research we examined the issue of how to enhance the number of childbirth. Then we selected the third year health visitor students, among whom the number of people raised in a big family was the highest, in order to conduct a further interview with them in 2013 (8 students). The topics of the interview were the sociodemographic data of the students, the family of origin, the lifestyle in a big family, plans of having children generally among young people nowadays and in their own respects as well.
Results. After analyzing the interviews and questionnaires it has turned out that in the subjects’ opinion it is possible to support young people in starting a family via the healthcare system. They even have specific ideas regarding it. We’ve also learned that the financial background of the family, both nuclear and extended, is an essential factor when it comes to having children, and the healthcare services (general and specialised) plays an important role as well.
Conclusions. The healthcare professionals should know that when the time comes for young couples to make a decision on having children, the services they provide come into consideration as an important input. The good quality and the free of charge accessability of the specialised services related to giving birth and the medical assistance for taking care of the new-born baby are crucial, positive factors in making a lifetime decision about founding a family.

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