Bruce, A., Sanders, T. orcid.org/0000-0002-9163-2964 and Sheldon, T. (2018) Qualitative study investigating the perceptions of parents of children who failed vision screening at the age of 4-5 years. BMJ Paediatrics Open, 2 (1). e000307. ISSN 2399-9772
Abstract
Objective: To explore in depth parents’ experiences and understanding of their children’s eye care in order to better comprehend why there is relatively low uptake of services and variable adherence to treatment.
Design: Semi-structured interviews, informed by the Health Belief framework, were conducted with parents of children who had failed vision screening at age 4-5 years. Four were parents of children who never attended follow-up, 11 had children who attended but did not adhere to spectacle wear and 5 parents of children who had attended and adhered.
Interviews were recorded and transcribed verbatim, thematic analysis based on the constant comparative method was undertaken.
Results: Parents beliefs led to uncertainty about the benefit of treatment, with parents testing their children to confirm the presence of a vision deficit and seeking advice from other family and community members. The stigma of spectacle wear explained the resistance of some to their child’s treatment with the maintenance of ‘normality’ often more important than clinical advice. The combination of parents own health beliefs, stigma and the practicalities of attending appointments together influenced parental decisions. Attendance following vision screening and the decision to adhere to spectacle wear were primarily based on the perceived severity of the visual reduction with the perceived benefit of spectacle wear outweighing any negative consequences.
Conclusions: Health care professionals require a greater understanding of parents’ decision making processes in order to provide personalised information. Knowledge of thecues to attendance and adherence provides policy makers a framework with which to review the barriers, develop strategies and redesign children’s eye care pathways.
Metadata
Item Type: | Article |
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Authors/Creators: |
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Copyright, Publisher and Additional Information: | © Author(s) (or their employer(s)) 2018. Re-use permitted under CC BY. Published by BMJ. This is an open access article distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 Unported (CC BY 4.0) license, which permits others to copy, redistribute, remix, transform and build upon this work for any purpose, provided the original work is properly cited, a link to the licence is given, and indication of whether changes were made. See: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/. |
Dates: |
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Institution: | The University of Sheffield |
Academic Units: | The University of Sheffield > Faculty of Medicine, Dentistry and Health (Sheffield) > School of Health and Related Research (Sheffield) > ScHARR - Sheffield Centre for Health and Related Research |
Depositing User: | Symplectic Sheffield |
Date Deposited: | 24 Jul 2018 14:48 |
Last Modified: | 05 Oct 2018 08:29 |
Published Version: | https://doi.org/10.1136/bmjpo-2018-000307 |
Status: | Published |
Publisher: | BMJ Publishing Group |
Refereed: | Yes |
Identification Number: | 10.1136/bmjpo-2018-000307 |
Open Archives Initiative ID (OAI ID): | oai:eprints.whiterose.ac.uk:133385 |