Parental health attitudes, illnesses and supports and the referral of children to medical specialists

Abstract

Parental illness and maternal health beliefs in the parents of a group of 40 children referred to a paediatric neurology service because of headaches were compared with illness histories and health beliefs in the parents of a matched group of 40 children presenting to the same service with recognized structural pathology, mainly epilepsy. The study focused on the mother's perceptions of her own health (current and past), on life events, social supports and on her beliefs about her own health and the validity of medical reassurance. Significant differences between the two groups were found in relation to: (a) the greater amount of illness experienced by both parents in the index group (i.e. parents of children with headaches), particularly the mothers, both as children and as adults; (b) the greater amount of illness present in the families of the index group in the 3 years prior to being seen by the neurologist; (c) the greater number of index mothers who had experienced the loss of their own mothers caused by death; (d) the greater tendency of the index mothers to express feelings of loneliness; (e) the greater proportion of index mothers who, in response to the Whiteley Attitudes to Health Questionnaire, expressed both (i) concern about serious disease in themselves, and (ii) reluctance to accept medical reassurance; (f) on the other hand, significantly more 'comparison mothers' complained of currently suffering 'many different symptoms'.

Recurrent Abdominal Pain in Primary and Tertiary Care: Differences and Similarities

“…Parents of children with high levels of health care use are believed to be more anxious (Janicke & Finney, 2001;Kinsman, Wildman, & Smucker, 1999). Further, there is evidence that parents with high personal somatic focus frequently take their children to the pediatrician and are likely to seek tertiary care consultations (Gulhati & Minty, 1998;Levy, Whitehead , Von Korff , & Feld , 2000). Although some evidence suggests that parents of children with RAP seen in tertiary care have high levels of general somatic complaints Walker, Garber, & Greene, 1994), it is unclear if this same pattern exists for parents of children with RAP seen in primary care.…”

Consumerism in healthcare can be detrimental to child health: lessons from children with functional abdominal pain

“…9 Modernisation of the National Health Service (NHS) in the UK includes initiatives which make the health service more responsive to the patient's needs and wants. It is assumed that what a patient (''consumer'') wants is in their best interests.…”

Chronic Pain and Family

“…These two studies show the impact of parental headache on young children. This vulnerability received further support in an investigation of 40 children with headache and a matched control group (Gulhati and Minty, 1998). The findings were complex, but showed that both parents in the headache group experienced more illnesses than those in the control group.…”