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Utilization of Parallel Resources and Sociodemographic Factors in Treating Children with Complex Chronic Diseases: A

Bibiana Pérez-Ardanaz1, María José Peláez-Cantero2, María González-Cano-Caballero3

  • 1Faculty of Health Sciences, Universidad de Málaga, 29071 Málaga, Spain.

Children (Basel, Switzerland)
|November 27, 2021
PubMed

Insights

Many parents of children with complex chronic conditions use additional healthcare resources. Parental education and occupation influence the use of these parallel health services, potentially impacting health equity.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Healthcare
  • Health Services Research
  • Social Determinants of Health

Background:

  • Children with complex chronic conditions require extensive health and social care.
  • Parents often seek supplementary resources like alternative therapies and private consultations.
  • The utilization of these parallel resources may exacerbate health inequalities.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To characterize the use of alternative healthcare resources for children with complex chronic conditions.
  • To evaluate how sociodemographic factors influence the utilization of these resources.

Main Methods:

  • Cross-sectional study conducted at a tertiary hospital in Granada, Spain (2016).
  • Analysis of healthcare resource utilization and socioeconomic variables for 265 children.
  • Research adhered to STROBE guidelines for observational studies.

Main Results:

  • 39.6% of children had private specialist consultations; 12.1% had private health insurance.
  • One-third of parents joined mutual support associations; 26% used alternative therapies.
  • Children with parents of higher educational and occupational status utilized more parallel healthcare resources.

Conclusions:

  • A significant number of children access multiple health resources beyond the public system, influenced by sociodemographic factors.
  • Further research is necessary to ascertain if these alternative services improve health outcomes.
Abstract

Keywords:
alternative therapiesand socioeconomic factorschild health servicesmultiple chronic conditionspsychosocial support systemspublic healthsocial support

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