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Parents' Fears about Hospital Visits and Trait Anxiety in the COVID-19 Pandemic

Atsuko Nakano1, Akihiro Maeta2, Yuri Takaoka3

  • 1Department of Pediatrics, Kokuho Central Hospital, Nara 6360302, Japan.

Healthcare (Basel, Switzerland)
|April 28, 2023
PubMed

Insights

Parental anxiety during the COVID-19 pandemic heightened fears regarding hospital visits for children with allergies. High trait anxiety correlated with increased worry about allergy and COVID-19 worsening.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatric Allergy
  • Infectious Disease Epidemiology
  • Clinical Psychology

Background:

  • The COVID-19 pandemic introduced significant stressors for parents of children with chronic conditions.
  • Parental anxiety may influence healthcare-seeking behaviors and adherence to medical advice.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on parental fears associated with hospital visits for pediatric allergic diseases.
  • To examine the relationship between parental personality traits, specifically trait anxiety, and these pandemic-related fears.

Main Methods:

  • A cross-sectional, questionnaire-based study involving 2439 parents of children (0-15 years) with allergic diseases.
  • Data collected on demographics, fears about hospital visits, desired information, and State-Trait Anxiety Inventory scores.
  • Comparison of responses between parents with high and low trait anxiety.

Main Results:

  • The most prevalent fears were "Fear of getting medical care as usual" (85.2%) and "Fear of COVID-19 infection during hospital visits" (87.1%).
  • High trait anxiety was significantly associated with increased fear of "worsening of children's allergies" (aOR=1.31) and "worsening of COVID-19 due to allergy" (aOR=1.52).

Conclusions:

  • Healthcare providers should proactively share updates on COVID-19 and healthcare system operations to mitigate parental anxiety.
  • Communicating the importance of continued treatment is crucial to prevent exacerbations of allergic conditions and COVID-19, especially considering parental trait anxiety.

Keywords:
COVID-19allergy and immunologyanxietypediatricssurveys and questionnaires

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