PICNIC - an online parent support program on young children's food and eating
PICNIC is a child feeding program from Australia. Together with parents and professionals, we are adapting PICNIC to fit families and child health services in Sweden. Would you like to take part? Sign up below to show your interest.
What is the project about?
The child feeding program PICNIC helps parents understand how children learn to eat, and offers practical tips for feeding and dealing with common mealtime challenges. The goal is to make everyday meals easier during the early childhood years—for both children and adults. It helps to reduce stress around meals and supports a positive relationship with food in the long term.
The research project "PICNIC in Swedish child health services"
PICNIC is not yet available in Sweden. Following a pilot study, we are adapting this parent support program for delivery through child health services. PICNIC will include short online learning modules about children’s eating and supportive food parenting strategies, along with digital parent groups led by experts. To make PICNIC as helpful as possible, we develop it together with parents and healthcare staff. PICNIC will be offered in both Swedish and English.
The aim of this project phase is to understand needs and perspectives of both parents and child health services—an important step to adapt PICNIC for Sweden. After that, will will evaluate the program in a large study within Swedish child health services. The goal is to support more families in the future.
Want to help us shape PICNIC for families in Sweden?
We are looking for people who would like to join a reference group and take part in one or more meetings—either individually or in a group. This research is not about evaluating you as a parent. Instead, we want your feedback on what we are creating in PICNIC. We are looking for up to 30 fathers, mothers and other caregivers of preschool‑aged children (from 12 months to 5 years) to participate. We are especially looking for you who don't have Swedish as your primary language.
Interested in participating?
Submit an Expression of Interest here. The researchers will contact you so can ask questions before you decide whether you want to take part.
[Link to expression-of-interest in RedCap]
Mothers, fathers, and other caregivers of preschool‑aged children are welcome—including people with different backgrounds, levels of knowledge, and interests. No previous experience with research is needed.
To take part, you need to:
- be a parent or caregiver of one or more children aged 12 months to 5 years;
- be at least 18 years old;
- live in Sweden;
- understand English and/or Swedish, both spoken and written.
We will hold separate meetings for Swedish- and English-speaking participants.
English speaking? Use the link above.
Swedish speaking? Go to our Swedish webpage.
If you take part, you will be invited to group meetings with other parents, or individual meetings with the researchers, to:
- discuss and suggest what content about children’s eating should be included in PICNIC
- test parts of the PICNIC content and give feedback
- if you want, give feedback on questionnaires that will be used in the next phase of the project
The first meeting will be a workshop in person (if possible), in a group with other parents, and will last about 3 hours. During this workshop, you will learn about the project and discuss common questions from parents, as well as their needs for information and support. Together, you will suggest ideas for the content and design of PICNIC.
Before taking part, you will be asked to give your consent and answer a few simple background questions. If you cannot attend in person, you can join an online meeting (individually or in a group).
Follow-up meetings will take place online. These will focus on giving feedback on the content and usefulness of different parts of PICNIC developed by the research team.
These activities take 1–3 hours and are usually done in groups. If you cannot join a group meeting, you can also give your feedback in writing or in an individual meeting.
Some participants will also be asked to take part in an extra activity. In this activity, you will test and give feedback on questionnaires planned for the next phase of the project, to make sure the questions are relevant and easy to answer.
As a thank you for your time, you will receive a SEK 200 gift card for each activity you take part in. You can take part in up to four activities.
- Tue 22 Sep: online (English speaking)
- Tue 27 Oct: online (English speaking)
Time and place to be decided.
Are you a healthcare professional?
We are also looking for child health nurses, dietitians, psychologists, speech therapists, and doctors who work with families with young children. These will form a separate reference group.
Read more on our Swedish PICNIC webpage.
Who leads the project?
Maria Henström Engblom
Project lead, nutritionist, and researcher at Karolinska Institutet (KI)
Maria Briggert Bengtsson,
Registered dietitian at Central Child Health Services (CBHV) in Västra Götaland Region, and PhD student at KI
This project is a collaboration between Karolinska Institutet (KI), Central Child Health Services (CBHV) in Västra Götaland Region (VGR), the Health Promotion Unit at Mid North Coast Local Health District (MNCLHD) in New South Wales (NSW), Australia, and the University of Newcastle, NSW, Australia.
The PICNIC team in Australia is led by Richard Ball and include, among others, Rachel Gerathy and Kerith Duncanson.
The research project “PICNIC in Swedish Child Health Services” (PICNIC Sweden) is funded by a research grant from Forte.
Want to contact us? Email us at picnic@ki.se
Maria Henström Engblom
Project lead for “PICNIC in Swedish Child Health Services”; nutritionist and researcher (assistant professor)More about PICNIC
The PICNIC ("Parent in Child Nutrition Informing Community") parent support program was originally developed in Australia. It aims to strengthen parents in their role around mealtimes with young children, with a focus on how parents can support eating, rather than what to eat.
PICNIC provides easy‑to‑understand, evidence‑based information and support online. It also includes peer support, where parents can learn from other parents’ experiences and ask questions. Answers are given by dietitians and other professionals who work with children’s eating.
The program has been developed over several years by dietitians and researchers, together with parents. PICNIC is now reaching new areas of Australia and parts of Asia. A pilot study has been carried out in Sweden, and the next step is to adapt and further develop PICNIC for parents and child health services in Sweden before testing it on a larger scale.
PICNIC is for all families, whether you are just starting to introduce food or have already come some way. It does not matter if your child enjoys food or is a 'picky eater'. The information is evidence‑based and in line with advice from child health services and the Swedish Food Agency. PICNIC does not replace care at child health service centres (BVC) but can offer extra support around food and eating (need-based support). It is not a treatment program; if your child has a medical condition that affects feeding or nutrition, always talk to your child’s healthcare provider.