Factors influencing parental compliance following school entry health screening

This study investigated the factors influencing parental action on behalf of their child following a school entry health screening failure. It was predicted that compliance with recommendations to seek further assessment would be related to the screening process variables and the number of barriers to compliance parents faced and that these barriers, and hence compliance, would be influenced by the socio-economic status of the family. It was also expected that when schools were differentiated on adversity factors, the type of school attended would be related to compliance. Results from a sample of parents (n = 1231) showed that the parental non-compliance rate to a referral of their child for further assessment following health screening was 26.1%. Non-compliance was related to both screening process knowledge and satisfaction and the type of barriers to compliance parents experienced. Although the type and number of barriers experienced by parents was related to socio-economic status, the results of correlational and discriminant function analyses indicated that the barriers most strongly related to compliance (e.g. partner's views, time pressure, more serious problems to worry about) were not related to socio-economic status nor type of school attended. These findings provide valuable information for child health service providers as well as those involved in policy making and planning in the general area of community health services.