Parentally reported barriers to seeking help and advice for child sleep from healthcare professionals

Abstract

Background Healthcare professionals (HCPs), largely doctors, paediatricians, health visitors, midwives, and practice nurses, are in a good position to provide information, help, advice, or guidance to parents for child sleep. However, evidence suggests that there is a gap between the number of parents who desire assistance from HCPs and those that make use of these sources, yet very little is known about the reason for this apparent disparity. The aim of this study was to understand the barriers reported by parents to consulting HCPs about child sleep. Methods In this study, 266 U.K.‐based parents of children aged 6–36 months old completed an online questionnaire (between October 2015 and October 2016) about their help‐seeking behaviours in relation to child sleep. This included reporting perceived barriers to consulting HCPs for child sleep information and advice about problems. Results Thematic analysis highlighted five themes, which parents reported acted as barriers to them consulting HCPs. Specifically, parents perceived HCPs to have a lack of knowledge or training around the topic of child sleep and that advice would be limited in terms of breadth of information or management options that would be offered. Parents were also concerned about wasting their own or HCPs' time, perceived there was a lack of continuity in the information they received, and held concerns about possible negative consequences for their family if they shared details about any child sleep difficulties. Conclusions Possible practical approaches to address the barriers reported by parents are highlighted. This includes improving training around the topic of child sleep for HCPs and adapting the content or manner in which the topic of child sleep and any associated issues are addressed with parents.

Insomnia Symptoms and Daytime Fatigue Co-Occurrence in Adolescent and Young Adult Childhood Cancer Patients in Follow-Up after Treatment: Prevalence and Associated Risk Factors

“…Previous studies have shown that patients have a need for support for their sleep and fatigue symptoms after active treatment has ended [ 4 , 56 , 57 ]. However, they often experience barriers with reporting sleep problems to their healthcare professional [ 58 ]. Therefore, active assessment—for example, by using patient-reported outcome measures (PROMs)—might help to recognize symptoms and incorporate fatigue–insomnia management within routine clinical care [ 59 , 60 ].…”

Parents' perceptions of the quality of infant sleep behaviours and practices: A qualitative systematic review

“…However, some parents who feel unsure or less trusting of their instincts, report feeling uncertain as to whether their infants' sleep is problematic (Hsu et al, 2017) and subsequently feel less confident in managing their child's sleep (Mindell, Sadeh, et al, 2015; Owens & Jones, 2011; Owens et al, 2011; Schreck & Richdale, 2011). In these instances, parents are more likely to seek and adhere to advice provided by healthcare professionals (G. Cook, Appleton, & Wiggs, 2020; Hsu et al, 2017).…”

UK parents' help‐seeking for child sleep: A qualitative investigation into parental preferences and reservations about resources

“…Previous research has predominantly focused on parental use of formal healthcare resources (Blunden et al, 2004 ; Cook et al, 2020 ; Hsu et al, 2017 ; Morrell, 1999 ), yet parents may also use other resources and so this emphasis may underrepresent the proportion of parents who seek help and how they approach doing so. Only a few studies have explored help‐seeking in a UK sample (Cook et al, 2020 ; Morrell, 1999 ). For example, Morrell ( 1999 ) explored advice seeking in mothers of 13–16 month olds.…”

“…However, only help‐seeking from formal healthcare resources, such as doctors or HVs, was explored and it remains unclear why some mothers who perceived their child to have a CSP had not sought professional help or if mothers had made use of sources other than HCPs. Recent studies have suggested that some parents have concerns about using HCPs for advice or support around child sleep due to a perceived lack of HCPs' knowledge or training (Cook et al, 2020 ; Hatton & Gardani, 2018 ). There remains a lack of evidence from the UK regarding what resources parents use and what factors encourage or cause parents to have reservations about the use of resources for child sleep.…”