BMJ  2004;329:269 (31 July), doi:10.1136/bmj.329.7460.269

Commentary

Advice to parents has limited effect—where next?

¹ Southampton University, Aldermoor Health Centre, Southampton SO16 5ST psl3@soton.ac.uk

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

This study shows nicely that it may be possible to train doctors to inform mothers regarding danger signs, but that about half of mothers do not recall the information—and of those who recall the advice, many do not seem to act on it.¹

Why do patients not follow doctors' advice? Several factors are likely to be operating. Advice from a health professional comes in the context of previous and subsequent experiences of illness and illness resolution, either personally or among family and friends, and these are likely to be strong modifiers of consultation behaviour.^{2 3} For example, parents may have experienced "danger signs" but nothing adverse happened, thus minimising the perceived threat. Furthermore, although doctors' advice is respected, lifestyle, demographic, and psychosocial factors and community support mechanisms are also likely to be important in determining consultation behaviour.^{2 3}

Although the context is slightly different, the issues in developed and developing societies are . . . [Full text of this article]

CiteULike    Complore    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Reddit    StumbleUpon    Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Article

Impact of counselling on careseeking behaviour in families with sick children: cluster randomised trial in rural India

Pavitra Mohan, Sharad D Iyengar, Jose Martines, Simon Cousens, and Kalpana Sen
BMJ 2004 329: 266. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

Online poll

Find out more>>