Anticipatory guidance topics: are more better?

Area of Science:

• Pediatrics
• Primary Care
• Health Communication

Background:

• Anticipatory guidance is crucial in pediatric primary care for informing parents about child health and safety.
• Effective information retention by parents is vital for translating guidance into practice.
• Limited data exist on parental recall of anticipatory guidance and the impact of topic volume.

Purpose of the Study:

• To assess parental recall of anticipatory guidance topics immediately post-visit and 1 month later.
• To compare parental recall with provider reports of discussed topics.
• To examine the relationship between the number of topics discussed and parental recall.

Main Methods:

• Parents and practitioners completed post-visit surveys on anticipatory guidance topics during well-child visits for children aged 2-11.
• Parental recall was compared with provider reports at two time points: immediately after the visit and 1 month later.
• Statistical analysis explored the correlation between the total number of topics discussed and parental recall rates.

Main Results:

• High concordance (72%-90%) was observed between parent and provider reports on discussed topics.
• Parents recalled an average of 6.33 topics post-visit, while providers reported 6.9 topics.
• Parental recall significantly decreased when 9 or more topics were discussed, a trend consistent at 1 month post-visit.

Conclusions:

• Agreement between parents and providers on discussed topics is strong.
• Parental recall of anticipatory guidance diminishes as the quantity of information presented increases.
• Consideration should be given to reducing the number of topics during well-child visits to enhance parental comprehension and retention.