Imperial College London
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Professor Mitch Blair

Faculty of Medicine, School of Public Health

Emeritus Professor
 
 
 
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Contact

 

+44 (0)20 8869 3881m.blair Website

 
 
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Location

 

River Island Academic Centre for Paediatrics and Child HealthNorthwick ParkNorthwick Park and St Marks Site

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Summary

 

Publications

Citation

BibTex format

@article{Watson:2021:10.1136/archdischild-2020-321260,
author = {Watson, G and Pickard, L and Williams, B and Hargreaves, D and Blair, M},
doi = {10.1136/archdischild-2020-321260},
journal = {Archives of Disease in Childhood},
pages = {1118--1124},
title = {‘Do I, don’t I?’ A qualitative study addressing parental perceptions about seeking healthcare during the COVID-19 pandemic},
url = {http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/archdischild-2020-321260},
volume = {106},
year = {2021}
}
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RIS format (EndNote, RefMan)

TY  - JOUR
AB  - Background Paediatric emergency departments have seen reduced attendance during the COVID-19 pandemic. Late paediatric presentations may lead to severe illness and even death. Maintaining provision of healthcare through a pandemic is essential. This qualitative study aims to identify changing care-seeking behaviours in child health during the pandemic and ascertain parental views around barriers to care.Methods Semistructured interviews were conducted with caregivers of children accessing acute paediatric services in a hospital in North-West London. Thematic content analysis was used to derive themes from the data, using a deductive approach.Results From interviews with 15 caregivers an understanding was gained of care-seeking behaviours during the pandemic. Themes identified were; influencers of decision to seek care, experience of primary care, other perceived barriers, experiences of secondary care, advice to others following lived experience. Where delays in decision to seek care occurred this was influenced predominantly by fear, driven by community perception and experience and media portrayal. Delays in reaching care were focused on access to primary care and availability of services. Caregivers were happy with the quality of care received in secondary care and would advise friends to seek care without hesitation, not to allow fear to delay them.Conclusion A pandemic involving a novel virus is always a challenging prospect in terms of organisation of healthcare provision. This study has highlighted parental perspectives around access to care and care-seeking behaviours which can inform us how to better improve service functioning during such a pandemic and beyond into the recovery period.
AU  - Watson,G
AU  - Pickard,L
AU  - Williams,B
AU  - Hargreaves,D
AU  - Blair,M
DO  - 10.1136/archdischild-2020-321260
EP  - 1124
PY  - 2021///
SN  - 0003-9888
SP  - 1118
TI  - ‘Do I, don’t I?’ A qualitative study addressing parental perceptions about seeking healthcare during the COVID-19 pandemic
T2  - Archives of Disease in Childhood
UR  - http://dx.doi.org/10.1136/archdischild-2020-321260
UR  - https://adc.bmj.com/content/early/2021/03/09/archdischild-2020-321260
UR  - http://hdl.handle.net/10044/1/87704
VL  - 106
ER  -
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