"And have you done anything so far?" An examination of lay treatment of children's symptoms.

Abstract

Interview data and health diary material were collected for an investigation of mothers' perceptions of their children's illnesses and of how they routinely coped with minor ailments in their children. The descriptions offered by the mothers of how they treated their children's symptoms and their actual use of various remedies as reported in the health diaries helped clarify the issues and processes concerned in their use of proprietary medicines and home remedies and their attitudes towards prescriptions. There was extensive use ofproprietary medicines, yet mothers also used some home remedies or took no action at all. They were found to treat their children's symptoms themselves, contacting their general practitioner only if symptoms did not clear up or became more serious.Generally mothers should be treated as competent in caring for a child whose health and behaviour are causing concern, and in these cases the skills of the general practitioner should be viewed as complementing those of the mother. Mothers do not invariably expect a prescription from the doctor.

‘Looking for the needle in the haystack’: a qualitative study of the pathway to diagnosis of type 1 diabetes in children

“…Even when they did not have alternative explanations, symptoms that were intermittent, not unusual or were not making the child unwell did not raise concern, while symptoms that were unusual, physical or interfering with daily life prompted help-seeking. This is consistent with previous studies in children30–32 and adults33 34 and also highlights the central role of the concept of normality30 31 35 36 to this distinction between non-concerning and concerning symptoms. This process, however, was not a simple linear one in which progression of symptoms led parents to move from alternative explanations through recognition of non-concerning symptoms to those causing concern.…”

Randomised controlled trial of effect of Baby Check on use of health services in first 6 months of life

“…1 8 Baby Check is designed to provide such guidance and to reassure parents that their baby is not severely ill 4. Baby Check is targeted at parents in the general population and has been found to be well accepted4 and to empower mothers 5.…”

‘Do I don’t I call the doctor’: a qualitative study of parental perceptions of calling the GP out‐of‐hours

“…8,17±19 The idea that parents focus on behavioural change whilst the GP concentrates on signs and symptoms, has been helpful in addressing this issue. 20,21 Also useful is the idea of parents attempting to control the illness while feeling disempowered by the threat of the supposed seriousness of the illness.…”