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Why parents seek medical evaluations for their children with mild acute illnesses

Robert G Voigt1, Shirley K Johnson, Andrew H Hashikawa

  • 1Departments of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine, Mayo Clinic, Rochester, MN 55905, USA. voigt.robert@mayo.edu

Clinical Pediatrics
|December 7, 2007
PubMed

Insights

Parents often seek medical evaluations for mildly ill children due to work concerns and smoking habits. Spouse

Area of Science:

  • Pediatrics
  • Health Services Research
  • Family Medicine

Background:

  • Understanding parental decision-making for seeking medical care for mildly ill children is crucial.
  • Existing research has not fully elucidated the factors influencing these decisions.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To identify key factors associated with parents seeking on-site medical evaluations for their mildly ill children.
  • To explore the relationship between parental concerns, demographics, and healthcare seeking behavior.

Main Methods:

  • Cross-sectional study design involving parent-completed questionnaires.
  • Logistic regression analysis was employed to identify significant predictors.
  • Data collected from a convenience sample of 196 parents at a sick child care program.

Main Results:

  • Parents concerned about missing work were significantly more likely to seek medical evaluations (OR=8.6).
  • Smoking parents (OR=3.7) and those with spouses having lower educational attainment (OR=0.4) also showed associations.
  • 31.6% of parents sought medical evaluations for their children.

Conclusions:

  • Parental concerns about work significantly drive healthcare seeking behavior for sick children.
  • Convenient healthcare access programs may alleviate challenges faced by working parents.
  • Socioeconomic factors, including spouse's education, play a role in healthcare utilization decisions.

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