Opinions and expectations of the parents regarding acute respiratory infections of infants and pre-school children. Influence on the facility to consult

Abstract

Aim. Describe the parents´ beliefs and expectations related to the willingness to consult for acute respiratory infections in infants and preschool children.
Methods. Cross-sectional study of an opportunistic sample of parents of children of less than five years. A questionnaire was designed to explore beliefs about frequency, symptoms, severity and treatment of acute respiratory infections, expectations on health care from doctors, and willingness to consult in certain circumstances. In an exploratory multivariate analysis, the main variables related to willingness to consult were identified.

Results. There were 317 questionnaires collected; 54.6 ercent of children were male, their median age (interquartile ange) was 2.0 years (0.6-3.3 years), and 5.7% had been ospitalized because respiratory diseases. The multivariate odel found seven variables related to the willingness to consult, that could be clustered in three domains: 1) perception f vulnerability in children (lower age and previous hospitalization); ) perception of threat (beliefs about severity f respiratory diseases and expectations that the doctor says hether the disease is severe); and 3) perception of efficacy f drugs (beliefs about efficacy of symptomatic drugs and f antibiotics, and expectations of being prescribed a drug).
Conclusions. The willingness to consult for acute respiratory nfections in infants and preschool children is related o a definite set parents´ beliefs and expectations.