Background One of the functions in child health care is to observe language development. Research shows that language delays which are not treated can cause difficulties in learning and socialization. When the child does not have Swedish as their mother tongue it may be difficult for the child health care nurses (CHC nurses) to make language assessment. The aim of this study is to illuminate the CHC nurses experiences of the language assessment situation among children who do not have Swedish as their mother tongue.

Method Then the aim of this study was to illuminate experiences a qualitative inductive method was chosen. Multistage focus groups were used, where the CHC nurses who worked in a multicultural area were interviewed on two occasions. When analyzing the transcribed text qualitative content analysis were used.

Result The analysis culminated into three categories; The interpretation situation, Importance of parents, The own competence in the language assessment situation and the theme; Feelings of doubt and uncertainty in the language assessment situation. The results showed that it is varied quality of the interpreters. The language assessment takes longer when an interpreter is present and it is not for the benefit if an interpreter and family are familiar with each other. Many times CHC nurses rely on parental assessment of the language development. It is felt by the CHC nurses to be cultural differences whether parents stimulate language development. CHC nurses feel themselves that they have a lack of cultural competence.

Conclusion CHC nurses strives to be responsive and have the child in focus during the assessment but they experience feelings of doubt and uncertainty whether their assessment is correct or not. There are factors that are important for proper assessment; interpreter quality and parents' sincerity. The lack of cultural competence can do a risk of not understanding the child's situation.