Parental knowledge of bacterial endocarditis prophylaxis

Summary The aim of this study was to determine parental knowledge of bacterial endocarditis prophylaxis (BEP).Parents of 135 patients attending a pediatric cardiology clinic in a university center were mailed an eight-question survey pertaining to their knowledge of their child's cardiac disease, medications, and BEP. The patients' cardiac lesions and current medications were verified by a review of clinic and echocardiographic records. Each patient's need for BEP was determined according to American Heart Association (AHA) recommendations [3].Eighty-four (62%) parents returned complete surveys. The patients' mean age was 5 years with a range of 9 weeks to 19 years. Eighty-two (98%) respondents were high school graduates. Fifty-two (62%) respondents correctly defined endocarditis. Eighty-two (98%) parents knew the correct name of their child's cardiac condition and 27/32 (84%) knew the names of their child's current medications. Only 36/64 (56%) parents of at-risk children knew measures to prevent endocarditis.While most parents know the name of their child's heart lesion and current medications, parental knowledge of endocarditis and BEP was limited. Intensified education and awareness programs are needed in order to prevent potential marbidity and mortality for pediatric patients with heart disease.     

Parental knowledge of school backpack weight and contents

Parental knowledge of their students' backpack weight and contents was assessed by identifying 188 students who carried backpacks weighing at least 10% of their body weights through a survey of 745 students in three elementary schools. Most parents (96%) had never checked their child's backpack weight; 34% had never checked the backpack contents.     

Parental knowledge and children's use of bicycle helmets

Helmet use protects against head injury. Our objective was to assess whether parental knowledge of helmet safety is associated with helmet use in children, and whether a relationship exists between helmet ownership and other safety behaviors. Three hundred forty-one surveys were distributed to parents of third through fifth graders; 97% of parents believed that a helmet confers protection; 49% of parents reported that their child owns a helmet. Of the helmet owners, 27% reported that the child wears it more than 75% of the time. Seat belt usage was associated with helmet ownership (p=0.02) and frequency of wearing a helmet (p=0.04). Although parents are aware of the benefits, a barrier between helmet ownership and usage exists.     

Parental knowledge of school backpack weight and contents.

Parental knowledge of their students' backpack weight and contents was assessed by identifying 188 students who carried backpacks weighing at least 10% of their body weights through a survey of 745 students in three elementary schools. Most parents (96%) had never checked their child's backpack weight; 34% had never checked the backpack contents.     

Parental knowledge about their asthmatic children]

A questionnaire was administered to parents of 171 asthmatic children, and their knowledge of asthma was evaluated using a quantitative score. The mean age of children was 5 yr and the mean duration of their asthma was 3 yr. Each sign of the classical triad "noisy breathing, cough, indrawing" was mentioned by two-thirds of parents. Inhaled agents perceived as triggers of asthma were: animal hair (73.7%), dust (69.6%), pollen (60.2%), tobacco (44.4%), molds (14.6%). Other triggering agents mentioned were: stress (51.5%), infections (38%), exercise (13.5%). Mothers with college or university education knew more clinical signs of an attack (P less than 0.01) and more triggering factors (P less than 0.005). Parents satisfied with previous teaching knew more threatening signs of an attack (P less than 0.01). About 80% of those that used theophylline and 49.4% of those that used inhaled beta-2-agonists knew the correct mode of administration. Parents satisfied with previous teaching had better knowledge of the side-effects of theophylline (P less than 0.005) and beta-2-agonists (P less than 0.02). 58.5% of those that used cromolyn sodium did not know the mean duration of a therapeutic trial and 15% did not use it as prophylaxis. 57.1% of those that used oral corticosteroids did not know any side-effects of the drug. About half of the parents indicated that they would like to receive more information about the causes and the appropriate treatment of asthma. It was concluded that parental teaching should focus more on environmental and therapeutic issues.     

Parental presence during pediatric invasive procedures.

Parental presence during pediatric invasive procedures is becoming more common, yet it remains a controversial issue related to providing family-centered care. A literature review related to this important issue was performed. Credible arguments supporting parental presence during invasive procedures as well as opposing arguments were discussed. One must consider both views in order to create a nonbiased analysis of the issue. Parental presence during invasive procedures raises critical debates related to maintaining or altering the continuum of holistic patient care. Additional research would provide an objective approach to the problem. Development of an evidence-based protocol would provide a framework for this issue.     

Parental involvement in pediatric cardiology outpatient visits

There is a lack of information regarding parental involvement in subspecialty care of their offspring. We evaluated trends in 3,118 parental visits, accompanied by their children to a pediatric cardiology office during a 5-year period. Offspring accompanied both parents 29%, mothers alone 64%, and fathers alone 5% of the total visits. The rates were similar for first-time visits and this trend was similar across all 5 years. Children were significantly younger when accompanied by both parents than by individual parents. Mothers play a major role in a child's subspecialty care. Our findings have important educational, social, research, and marketing implications.     

Parental alcoholism and early child development

In a cohort of 532 pregnant women from the general population, it was found by compilation of the results from interviews, police records, hospital records and social welfare records that 23 mothers and 51 fathers in 64 families (12%) were suffering from alcoholism/heavy drinking. In these 64 families, the mother was an addict in only 13 families, both parents were addicts in 10 families, and in the remaining 41 families only the father was an addict. Pregnancy, delivery, the newborn child and the child's development until their fourth year of life have been described using a multidisciplinary approach and a longitudinal prospective design. An hypothesis on mental and physical development, and the occurrence of psychopathological symptoms in the children was tested. None of the children of the 13 alcoholic mothers was born with foetal alcohol syndrome, but foetal hazard was indicated by lower birth weight and a higher rate of perinatal deaths. Children of alcoholic parents had retarded mental development and showed more behavioural problems until 4 years of age than controls, but the differences related to physical development during the first year of life had then disappeared. Boys were found to be more vulnerable than girls. The consequences of behaviour seemed to be more pronounced when both parents were alcoholics. No obvious deviation was found when only the father was addicted. Regarding mental development, it appears that factors related to parental alcoholism, including genetic and social factors, and the sex of the child, are of greater importance than the neonatal score on reduced optimality.     

Parental attitudes and knowledge of child safety. A national survey

The protection of children from injury ultimately depends on the actions of adults. We conducted a national telephone survey to assess parental attitudes and understanding of child safety. Parents worried more about kidnapping and drug abuse than about childhood injury. Although well informed about potential injuries to automobile occupants, parents knew little about dangers of pedestrian and bicycle injuries, burns, and drowning. Parents frequently mentioned "being careful" when describing precautions to reduce the risk of unintentional injury rather than mentioning proved safety measures. Parents of lower socioeconomic status demonstrated a more limited understanding of child safety. Physicians were cited as the parents' first choice for information on injury control and child safety. The parents' poor showing indicates (1) the importance of passive interventions and (2) the need for programs to increase parental knowledge of childhood injury and safety.     

School nurse perceptions and knowledge of pediatric toileting

ObjectiveWe surveyed school nurses on toileting conditions in schools, their level of understanding related to normal toileting patterns in school-age children, and whether they are in need of additional resources to promote healthy toilet habits for their students.Materials and methodsAn Institutional Review Board approved web-based survey with 34 questions was employed; 562 nurses completed the survey and 97% were currently employed as school nurses. Participants were invited via email blasts through national school nursing associations and the Iowa Department of Education.ResultsOnly 48% and 33% of respondents suspected an underlying health problem in children with frequent urination and bladder or bowel accidents, respectively. Despite 61% reporting never receiving information about children’s normal elimination patterns, 43% had been asked to provide such information to teachers. Only 42% felt they had adequate resources to respond to such requests. School nurses requested information about treatment of dysfunctional elimination (67%), health effects of childhood toileting habits (65%), fluid intake guidelines (44%) and improvement of bathroom facilities (39%); 70% were unaware of local providers specially trained to treat children with these problems.ConclusionsOur survey results suggest that school nurses need additional information and resources in order to promote healthy elimination patterns in school children.     

Parental and medical knowledge and management of fever in Italian pre-school children

Background

There are disproportionately higher rates of overweight and obesity in poor rural communities but studies exploring children??s health-related behaviors that may assist in designing effective interventions are limited. We examined the association between overweight and obesity prevalence of 401 ethnically/racially diverse, rural school-aged children and healthy-lifestyle behaviors: improving diet quality, obtaining adequate sleep, limiting screen-time viewing, and consulting a physician about a child??s weight.

Methods

A cross-sectional analysis was conducted on a sample of school-aged children (6?C11 years) in rural regions of California, Kentucky, Mississippi, and South Carolina participating in CHANGE (Creating Healthy, Active, and Nurturing Growing-up Environments) Program, created by Save the Children, an independent organization that works with communities to improve overall child health, with the objective to reduce unhealthy weight gain in these school-aged children (grades 1?C6) in rural America. After measuring children??s height and weight, we17 assessed overweight and obesity (BMI ?? 85th percentile) associations with these behaviors: improving diet quality18 (?? 2 servings of fruits and vegetables/day), reducing whole milk, sweetened beverage consumption/day; obtaining19 adequate night-time sleep on weekdays (?? 10 hours/night); limiting screen-time (i.e., television, video, computer,20 videogame) viewing on weekdays (?? 2 hours/day); and consulting a physician about weight. Analyses were adjusted 21 for state of residence, children's race/ethnicity, gender, age, and government assistance.

Results

Overweight or obesity prevalence was 37 percent in Mississippi and nearly 60 percent in Kentucky. Adjusting for covariates, obese children were twice as likely to eat ?? 2 servings of vegetables per day (OR=2.0,95% CI 1.1-3.4), less likely to consume whole milk (OR=0.4,95% CI 0.2-0.70), Their parents are more likely to be told by their doctor that their child was obese (OR=108.0,95% CI 21.9-541.6), and less likely to report talking to their child about fruits and vegetables a lot/sometimes vs. not very much/never (OR=0.4, 95%CI 0.2-0.98) compared to the parents of healthy-weight children.

Conclusions

Rural children are not meeting recommendations to improve diet, reduce screen time and obtain adequate sleep. Although we expected obese children to be more likely to engage in unhealthy behaviors, we found the opposite to be true. It is possible that these groups of respondent parents were highly aware of their weight status and have been advised to change their children??s health behaviors. Perhaps given the opportunity to participate in an intervention study in combination with a physician recommendation could have resulted in actual behavior change.