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Patterns of help-seeking behaviour for toddlers from two contrasting socio-economic groups: new evidence on a
1Department of General Practice, University of Wales College of Medicine, Llanedeyrn Health Centre, Cardiff, UK.
Insights
Socioeconomic status impacts childhood symptom help-seeking. Poorer children accessed general practitioners more, but affluent families sought help more for behavioral issues, affecting primary care services.
Area of Science:
- Pediatric Health Services Research
- Socioeconomic Determinants of Health
- Childhood Symptom Management
Background:
- Help-seeking behavior for childhood symptoms varies significantly.
- Socioeconomic factors are known to influence healthcare utilization.
- Understanding these variations is crucial for equitable primary care.
Purpose of the Study:
- To describe and compare help-seeking patterns for common childhood symptoms.
- To investigate the influence of socioeconomic status on parental help-seeking.
- To identify differences in professional advice utilization between contrasting economic groups.
Main Methods:
- Descriptive study of clinic attendees aged 9-18 months.
- Comparison between a socioeconomically deprived clinic and an affluent one in Tyneside, UK.
- Data collected via parental symptom reporting, professional advice seeking, and general practitioner (GP) records.
Main Results:
- Children in the affluent area had fewer GP consultations (7.3 vs 15.1).
- Fever presentation was similar, but diarrhea/cold episodes were less frequent in the affluent group.
- Behavioral problems were reported less often in affluent children but led to help-seeking more frequently (86% vs 33%).
Conclusions:
- Significant variations in help-seeking behavior exist between economically contrasting groups.
- These disparities have implications for understanding and providing primary care services.
- Targeted approaches may be needed to address socioeconomic influences on child health help-seeking.
Objective:
This descriptive study aimed to assess patterns in help-seeking behaviour for common childhood symptoms.
Method:
Clinic attenders aged 9-18 months of two child health clinics on Tyneside, UK, one with substantial economic deprivation, were studied. Outcome measures were parental reporting of common symptoms, utilization of professional advice and general practitioner records of consultations.
Results:
Children in the affluent area had had fewer general practitioner consultations (mean 7.3) than those in the poorer area (mean 15.1; 95% CI for difference 4.3-11.4). They were less likely to present with an episode of diarrhoea or cold but were as likely as the poorer group to present with fever. Behaviour problems were reported less frequently (23% versus 47%), but if present, this was far more likely to result in help seeking than in the poorer group (86% versus 33%; P < 0.05).
Conclusions:
Variations in help-seeking behaviour between two economically contrasting groups were identified; this has implications for clinical understanding and service provision in primary care.