# Perspectives on the importance of parents’ health, health-promoting behaviour, and psychosocial and lifestyle factors during pregnancy on child health outcomes across the life course: a cross-sectional study among parents and professionals

## TL;DR

This study explores how parents' health and behavior during pregnancy affect children's health throughout their lives, based on perspectives from parents and professionals.

## Contribution

The study provides insights into the shared recognition of the importance of parental health and behavior during pregnancy for long-term child health outcomes.

## Key findings

- Most parents and professionals agree maternal health during pregnancy is important for child health across life stages.
- Almost all participants agree maternal health-promoting behavior before and during pregnancy is crucial for child health.
- There is a need for better knowledge translation to connect recognition of health importance with actual health-promoting behaviors.

## Abstract

Adverse circumstances during pregnancy are associated with impaired health for children not only during pregnancy and childhood, but also in adulthood. This study evaluates the perspectives of parents and professionals regarding the importance of parents’ health, parents’ health-promoting behaviour, and psychosocial and lifestyle factors of parents during pregnancy on a child’s long-term health outcomes.

A cross-sectional survey study was conducted among parents with a child up to two years (n = 1854) and professionals (n = 322) in a large city in the Netherlands.

Most parents and professionals agree that maternal health during pregnancy is important for a child’s health during pregnancy (98%, 99%, respectively), childhood (94%, 97%, respectively), and adulthood (84%, 89%, respectively). Additionally, almost all parents and professionals agree that maternal health-promoting behaviour during preconception (90%, 96%, respectively), pregnancy (97%, 98%, respectively), and childhood (97%, 99%, respectively) is important for a child’s health.

Most parents and professionals recognize the importance of parents’ health and well-being, parents’ health-promoting behaviour and psychosocial and lifestyle factors of parents during pregnancy for a child’s health throughout the life course. To optimize public health, there is a need for effective knowledge translation to bridge between recognition and health-promoting behaviour.