‘Do I, don’t I?’ A qualitative study addressing parental perceptions about seeking healthcare during the COVID-19 pandemic
File(s)
Published version
Author(s)
Watson, Gabriella
Pickard, Lucy
Williams, Bhanu
Hargreaves, Dougal
Blair, Mitch
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
Background Paediatric emergency departments have seen reduced attendance during the COVID-19 pandemic. Late paediatric presentations may lead to severe illness and even death. Maintaining provision of healthcare through a pandemic is essential. This qualitative study aims to identify changing care-seeking behaviours in child health during the pandemic and ascertain parental views around barriers to care.
Methods Semistructured interviews were conducted with caregivers of children accessing acute paediatric services in a hospital in North-West London. Thematic content analysis was used to derive themes from the data, using a deductive approach.
Results From interviews with 15 caregivers an understanding was gained of care-seeking behaviours during the pandemic. Themes identified were; influencers of decision to seek care, experience of primary care, other perceived barriers, experiences of secondary care, advice to others following lived experience. Where delays in decision to seek care occurred this was influenced predominantly by fear, driven by community perception and experience and media portrayal. Delays in reaching care were focused on access to primary care and availability of services. Caregivers were happy with the quality of care received in secondary care and would advise friends to seek care without hesitation, not to allow fear to delay them.
Conclusion A pandemic involving a novel virus is always a challenging prospect in terms of organisation of healthcare provision. This study has highlighted parental perspectives around access to care and care-seeking behaviours which can inform us how to better improve service functioning during such a pandemic and beyond into the recovery period.
Methods Semistructured interviews were conducted with caregivers of children accessing acute paediatric services in a hospital in North-West London. Thematic content analysis was used to derive themes from the data, using a deductive approach.
Results From interviews with 15 caregivers an understanding was gained of care-seeking behaviours during the pandemic. Themes identified were; influencers of decision to seek care, experience of primary care, other perceived barriers, experiences of secondary care, advice to others following lived experience. Where delays in decision to seek care occurred this was influenced predominantly by fear, driven by community perception and experience and media portrayal. Delays in reaching care were focused on access to primary care and availability of services. Caregivers were happy with the quality of care received in secondary care and would advise friends to seek care without hesitation, not to allow fear to delay them.
Conclusion A pandemic involving a novel virus is always a challenging prospect in terms of organisation of healthcare provision. This study has highlighted parental perspectives around access to care and care-seeking behaviours which can inform us how to better improve service functioning during such a pandemic and beyond into the recovery period.
Date Issued
2021-10-20
Date Acceptance
2021-02-12
Citation
Archives of Disease in Childhood, 2021, 106 (11), pp.1118-1124
ISSN
0003-9888
Publisher
BMJ
Start Page
1118
End Page
1124
Journal / Book Title
Archives of Disease in Childhood
Volume
106
Issue
11
Copyright Statement
© Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2021. Re-use permitted under CC BY-NC. No commercial re-use. See rights and permissions. Published by BMJ. http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.
This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited, appropriate credit is given, any changes made indicated, and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/.
License URL
Sponsor
National Institute of Health and Medical Research
Identifier
https://adc.bmj.com/content/early/2021/03/09/archdischild-2020-321260
Grant Number
NIHR200180
Subjects
Covid-19
health services research
qualitative research
Pediatrics
1103 Clinical Sciences
1114 Paediatrics and Reproductive Medicine
1117 Public Health and Health Services
Publication Status
Published
Date Publish Online
2021-03-10