Helping parents to cope when their preschool children are acutely ill

Impicciatore, P.; Violante, A; Bonati, Maurizio

doi:10.1136/bmj.314.7077.373a

Cited by 5 publications

(4 citation statements)

References 2 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Tepid sponging was the most widely suggested method, but sponging is only rarely necessary in children because antipyretic drugs are simpler to use, at least as effective in reducing body temperature, and cause less discomfort 13. Although sponging is recommended in occasional cases of very high temperature (>40-41°C, plus discomfort), some of the documents suggested sponging children with temperatures as low as 38.5°C.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…However, parents' fear and misconceptions about fever often lead them to unnecessarily aggressive management and inappropriate calls to their doctor 10. Parental education programmes on fever have been shown to decrease misuse of antipyretic drugs and requests for doctors to visit 11 12 13. The availability of accurate information on the internet about the home management of the feverish child on the internet could thus be useful in counteracting parents' worries about fever and, more generally, in optimising healthcare delivery.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Reliability of health information for the public on the world wide web: systematic survey of advice on managing fever in children at home

Impicciatore

Pandolfini

Casella

et al. 1997

BMJ

Self Cite

535

306

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Objective: To assess the reliability of healthcare information on the world wide web and therefore how it may help lay people cope with common health problems. Methods: Systematic search by means of two search engines, Yahoo and Excite, of parent oriented web pages relating to home management of feverish children. Reliability of information on the web sites was checked by comparison with published guidelines. Main outcome measures:Minimum temperature of child that should be considered as fever, optimal sites for measuring temperature, pharmacological and physical treatment of fever, conditions that may warrant a doctor's visit. Results: 41 web pages were retrieved and considered. 28 web pages gave a temperature above which a child is feverish; 26 pages indicated the optimal site for taking temperature, most recommending rectal measurement; 31 of the 34 pages that mentioned drug treatment recommended paracetamol as an antipyretic; 38 pages recommended non-drug measures, most commonly tepid sponging, dressing lightly, and increasing fluid intake; and 36 pages gave some indication of when a doctor should be called. Only four web pages adhered closely to the main recommendations in the guidelines. The largest deviations were in sponging procedures and how to take a child's temperature, whereas there was a general agreement in the use of paracetamol. Conclusions: Only a few web sites provided complete and accurate information for this common and widely discussed condition. This suggests an urgent need to check public oriented healthcare information on the internet for accuracy, completeness, and consistency.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reliability of health information for the public on the world wide web: systematic survey of advice on managing fever in children at home

Impicciatore

Pandolfini

Casella

et al. 1997

BMJ

Self Cite

535

306

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…Impicciatore et al studying mothers' perceptions and attitudes towards fever and its treatment found that most mothers did not know how to manage fever (9). Two studies in Greece reached to the same conclusions; Anagnostakis et al found that parents had incorrect perceptions about fever and worried about temperatures that were considered normal (10), while Mathioudakis et al found that only 1.4% of parents correctly evaluated and treated fever and 64.6% used the wrong dosages of antipyretics (11).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Knowledge and management of fever among Moroccan parents

Rkain¹,

Rkain²,

Safi³

et al. 2014

East Mediterr Health J

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Parents often have misperceptions about childhood fever, and little information is available about the home management of feverish children in Morocco. In this study of the perceptions, knowledge and practices of families regarding children's fever, the parents of 264 febrile children aged 0-16 years were interviewed in a paediatric emergency department in Rabat in 2011. Only 3.5% of parents knew the correct temperature definition for fever, 54.4% determined their children's fever using a thermometer, and the preferred site was rectal. Most of them (96.8%) considered that fever was a very serious condition, which could lead to side-effects such as brain damage (28.9%), seizures (18.8%) paralysis (19.5%), dyspnoea (14.8%) and coma (14.8%). Paracetamol was used by 85.9% and traditional treatments by 45.1%. Knowledge about the correct definition of fever was significantly associated with parents' profession, educational level and receipt of previous information and advice from health professionals. (14,8 %). Le paracétamol a été utilisé par 85,9 % des parents et les traitements traditionnels par 45,1 %. La connaissance de la définition exacte de la fièvre était significativement associée à la profession des parents, à leur niveau d'études et à la prise de conseils et d'informations préalable auprès des professionnels de santé.

show abstract

“…2004). Fever phobia increases the physical and emotional burden through constant temperature‐taking, worrying and sleepless nights, and could influence parents’ practices (Impicciatore et al. 1997, Lagerlov et al.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%