De glemte barna – en kartleggingsstudie av tilbud til og muligheter for pårørende søsken i norske kommuner

Background: Norwegian health professionals are obliged to provide support to siblings as next of kin. Preliminary evidence for positive outcomes of SIBS, a novel five-session intervention for siblings as next of kin, exists. This study aimed to investigate the extent and type of sibling support in the community health services. It also aimed to examine prospective acceptability for SIBS among community health workers. Methods: We asked public health nurses, psychologists, and chief physicians in Norwegian municipalities about sibling support and about their evaluations of SIBS. We conducted descriptive analyses and a qualitative analysis guided by Consolidated Framework for Implementation Research. Results: 332 respondents from 253 municipalities participated. Siblings were rarely systematically identified. School health services were common support providers, but mostly upon request from families. There was limited collaboration with the specialist health care or other services. Prospective acceptability for SIBS was high, but several barriers to implementation in community services were reported. Conclusion: Sibling support at the community level is deficient, and successful implementation of adequate interventions requires intralevel and interlevel collaboration. Keywords: siblings, children as next of kin, chronic disorders, disabilities, prevention, implementation