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OBJECTIVES: Interventions during pregnancy and early childhood have been shown to impact dental health. Thus, Antenatal Care and Dental Care collaborated in an intervention called Health Counselling in Dental Care (HCDC). HCDC was offered free of charge to first-time expectant parents and was aimed at reducing the frequency of dental caries in children and their parents. However, the intervention reached less than 50% of the parents. The aim of this study was to explore facilitators of, barriers to, and suggestions for increased participation in HCDC.

METHODS: Data was collected through semi-structured, face-to-face interviews with expectant parents. Participants were purposively sampled based on having been invited to HCDC and to achieve a variation in socio-demographics. Interviews were audio recorded, transcribed verbatim, and analysed using conventional qualitative content analysis.

RESULTS: In total, 16 interviews were conducted (10 women, 6 men). Six categories representing three facilitators and three barriers for participation emerged. The facilitators were the midwife's crucial role for disseminating information about HCDC and motivating participation, that the parents perceived HCDC as valuable for themselves and their offspring, and a desire for new or more knowledge. The barriers included a shortage of information regarding the counselling, a perceived lack of value for the parents and offspring, and the timing of the counselling during pregnancy.

CONCLUSIONS: The midwives were crucial in providing information and motivation for HCDC participation. To increase attendance, sufficient information regarding the benefits of counselling is required, and the timing needs to be flexible and family-centred.