Related Experiment Video

Updated: Feb 5, 2026

Determining Soil-transmitted Helminth Infection Status and Physical Fitness of School-aged Children
10:57

Determining Soil-transmitted Helminth Infection Status and Physical Fitness of School-aged Children

Published on: August 22, 2012

24.4K

A survey of parental health-seeking behaviour, knowledge, and expectations around ear infection symptoms in children

Catherine V Hayes1, Haroon Ahmed2, Julie V Robotham3

  • 1Primary Care and Interventions Unit, AMR and HCAI division, UK Health Security Agency, Gloucester, UK Catherine.hayes@UKHSA.gov.uk.

BJGP Open
|February 3, 2026
PubMed

Insights

Parents frequently seek medical care for children's ear infections, driven by symptom severity and daily life disruptions. Addressing parental knowledge gaps could reduce unnecessary consultations and antibiotic use for common childhood ear infections.

Area of Science:

  • Pediatrics
  • General Practice
  • Health Services Research

Background:

  • Middle ear infections lead to approximately 500,000 UK primary care consultations annually.
  • Ear infections are a leading cause of antibiotic prescriptions in children.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To investigate parental experiences and actions when their child exhibits symptoms of an ear infection.
  • To identify factors influencing healthcare consultations and antibiotic prescriptions for childhood ear infections.

Main Methods:

  • An online survey was administered to 503 parents in England whose children (aged 10 or younger) had suspected ear infection symptoms within the past 12 months.
  • Retrospective self-reported data were analyzed using multivariable logistic regression to examine associations with consulting healthcare providers and antibiotic prescription rates.

Main Results:

  • 90% of parents consulted healthcare for their child's ear infection symptoms, with 74% doing so within 1-2 days.
  • Factors associated with consulting included symptom severity, duration, impact on work/childcare, and presence of fluid in the ear.
  • 55.7% of children who consulted received antibiotics, and 36% of parents believed antibiotics are always necessary for ear infections.

Conclusions:

  • Parental decisions to consult are influenced by perceived risk, treatment needs, and daily life impacts.
  • Knowledge gaps regarding the self-limiting nature of some ear infections exist among parents.
  • Targeted educational interventions could potentially decrease primary care visits and antibiotic prescribing for pediatric ear infections.
Abstract

Keywords:
child healthinfectious illnessotitispatient perspectivesprimary health care

More Related Videos

An Unpredictable Chronic Mild Stress Protocol for Instigating Depressive Symptoms, Behavioral Changes and Negative Health Outcomes in Rodents06:55

An Unpredictable Chronic Mild Stress Protocol for Instigating Depressive Symptoms, Behavioral Changes and Negative Health Outcomes in Rodents

Published on: December 2, 2015

23.5K
Assessing the Coherence of Parents' Short Narratives Regarding their Child Using the Five-Minute Speech Sample Procedure07:56

Assessing the Coherence of Parents' Short Narratives Regarding their Child Using the Five-Minute Speech Sample Procedure

Published on: September 19, 2019

10.8K

Related Concept Videos

Expected Value01:15

Expected Value

The expected value is known as the "long-term" average or mean. This means that over the long term of experimenting over and over, you would expect this average. The expected average is represented by the symbol μ. It is calculated as follows:
7.8K
Parental Care00:55

Parental Care

Many animals exhibit parental care behavior, including feeding, grooming, and protecting young offspring. Parental care is universal in mammals and birds, which often have young that are born relatively helpless. Several species of insects and fish, as well as some amphibians, also care for their young.
12.8K
Parenting Styles01:27

Parenting Styles

Diana Baumrind's four parenting styles — authoritarian, authoritative, neglectful, and permissive — each influence children's socio-emotional development differently.
Authoritarian Parenting
This style is strict and controlling, with little room for open dialogue. Authoritarian parents demand obedience and often enforce rules with minimal warmth. Children raised this way may lack social skills and initiative, usually comparing themselves to others unfavorably.
Authoritative...
678
Relationship with Parents: Attachment01:28

Relationship with Parents: Attachment

Parent-child interactions lay the foundation for how we understand relationships throughout life. These interactions are not uniform across families; instead, they are shaped by a range of environmental, emotional, and behavioral factors unique to each caregiver-child dynamic. Social psychologists study these early relationships to understand how patterns formed in infancy influence social functioning and interpersonal behavior in adulthood.Attachment Theory and Early Relational ModelsJohn...
265
Determination of Expected Frequency01:08

Determination of Expected Frequency

Suppose one wants to test independence between the two variables of a contingency table. The values in the table constitute the observed frequencies of the dataset. But how does one determine the expected frequency of the dataset? One of the important assumptions is that the two variables are independent, which means the variables do not influence each other. For independent variables, the statistical probability of any event involving both variables is calculated by multiplying the individual...
2.6K
Anatomy of the Ear01:16

Anatomy of the Ear

Auditory sensation, commonly called hearing, involves the transformation of sonic waves into neural impulses facilitated by the structures of the auditory organ. The prominent, flesh-like structure on the side of the head, called the auricle, directs sound waves towards the auditory canal. The auricle is often mislabeled as the pinna, a term more aligned with mobile structures like a feline's external ear. The auditory canal penetrates the cranium via the external auditory meatus of the...
11.8K