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[Behavioral pattern and behavioral characteristics of children in two pediatric clinics]
R Frank1, F Berger-Sallawitz, U Frick
1Institut für Kinder- und Jugendpsychiatrie und Psychotherapie, Haunersches Kinderspital München. Reiner.Frank@psy.med.uni-muenchen.de
Objectives:
To describe systematically patterns of behavior of children and parents in pediatric hospitals.
Methods:
A questionnaire to systematically rate behavior of children and parents was administered by nurses to two independent samples in two different pediatric hospitals. At the von Haunersches Kinderspital, Klinikum Innenstadt of the Ludwig-Maximilian-University of Munich, 659 children were rated, at the Pediatric Hospital of the University of Freiburg, 484 children. Latent class analysis grouped children/parents according to similar patterns of behavior.
Results:
In Munich a five-class model is most appropriate to classify children/parent behavior, in Freiburg a six-class model best first the data. Four classes in Munich and in Freiburg display nearly identical profiles. Three of them describe inconspicuous behavior of children in different age groups, whereas the fourth group describes disturbed children. These four groups classify 87% of the children in Munich and 73% of those in Freiburg. In Munich 25% of the children are rated as disturbed, as opposed to 39% in Freiburg.
Conclusions:
The questionnaire is suitable for everyday clinical practice. Results of both samples mostly correspond. Remaining differences are caused by type of hospital (pediatrics vs. pediatric surgery) and by the differing depth of nurses' rater training.