The goal of the present study is to explore the relation between parents' anxiety and cognitive representations of medication in pediatric treatment of their children, seeking possible differences as a function of gender and age. A total of 1,772 parents of children attended in primary pediatric health care centers of the public health care system of Andalusia, Spain participated in this study. Of the sample, 25.1% were men and 74.9% were women. Negative beliefs about medicines were found to be associated with higher levels of anxiety in parents during primary pediatric health care. Among the variables studied, the beliefs in medication abuse predicted higher levels of anxiety. Intervention initiatives could substantially improve patients and their relatives' well-being during pediatric consultation, adherence to treatment, and lastly general satisfaction. Findings are discussed with reference to other authors, clinical implications, and the need of future research.

This study explored the relation between parents' stress and satisfaction during children's hospitalization, seeking possible differences between immigrant and autochthonous population and also as a function of gender in a sample of parents of hospitalized children in Andalusia, Spain. A total of 1347 parents participated in this study. Of the sample, 50% were immigrants and the other 50% were autochthonous. The assessment instruments were the Hospitalization Stress Scale and the Satisfaction with Hospitalization Scale. The results show that stress was associated with the manifestations of the child's illness, the alteration of family life or of parental roles during the process and some aspects of the clinical staff's work. General satisfaction in immigrant parents was higher than in the autochthonous population and the levels of satisfaction were higher in men than in women. Small changes and initiatives in relation to care could substantially improve the satisfaction of patients and their relatives during the process of hospitalization.

No abstract

Different investigations have proved the existence of anxiety and emotional alteration in parents during the hospitalization of a child. The objective of this study was to investigate the potential association between some aspects of family functioning and emotional alterations. It’s centred concretely in parents’ anxiety during the hospitalization of a child, looking for differences between parents of immigrant and non-immigrant origin. Methods. One hundred and ninety one parents, aged 23 to 53, participated in the study. All of them had a child hospitalized in pediatric units in hospitals of Andalucía, Spain. Anxiety was measured with the Spanish version of the Spielberger State-Trait Anxiety Inventory (STAI), and family functioning with the brief Spanish version of the Family Adaptability and Cohesion Evaluation Scale (FACES). Results. A better family functioning is significantly associated with lower levels of anxiety in parents during pediatric hospitalization. Immigrant origin parents were found to have considerably higher anxiety, higher family cohesion and also higher adaptability scores. Multiple regression analyses revealed that family cohesion and origin (immigrant/non-immigrant) explain significant variance in the anxiety scores of parents’ of hospitalized children.

The psychological aspects which had most impact on paediatric hospitalisation would be emotional alterations, such as the presence of anxiety and stress, or other aspects, like a lack of trust when being hospitalised.