How to make healthy early childhood development more likely in marginalized Roma communities: a concept mapping approach

BACKGROUND: This study aims to assess which measures could improve the healthy early childhood development of children from marginalized Roma communities and to identify priority measures.

METHODS: Concept mapping approach was used, using mixed methods. In total 54 professionals, including social workers, educators, health care providers, municipality representatives, and project managers participated in our study.

RESULTS: Four distinct clusters of measures targeting living conditions, public resources, healthcare and community interventions, and 27 individual priority measures of highest urgency and feasibility were identified. The cluster 'Targeting living conditions', was rated as the most urgent but least feasible, whereas the cluster 'Targeting health care', was considered least urgent but most feasible. Among the 27 priority measures, 'Planning parenthood' and 'Scaling up existing projects' had the highest priority.

CONCLUSION: Our results reflect the public and political discourse and indicate significant barriers to implementation. Reducing inequalities in early childhood needs to be addressed through coordinated efforts.