A Qualitative Study of Parents’ Conceptualizations on Fever in Children Aged 0 to 12 Years

Villarejo-Rodríguez, María Gloria; Rodríguez-Martín, Beatriz

doi:10.3390/ijerph16162959

Submit to this Journal Review for this Journal Edit a Special Issue

Article Menu

...

Open AccessArticle

A Qualitative Study of Parents’ Conceptualizations on Fever in Children Aged 0 to 12 Years

María Gloria Villarejo-Rodríguez

^1,2,*

and Beatriz Rodríguez-Martín^2,3

Health Center of Bargas, 45593 Toledo, Spain

Social and Health Care Center, University of Castilla-La Mancha, 16007 Cuenca, Spain

Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Castilla-La Mancha, Talavera de la Reina, 45600 Toledo, Spain

Author to whom correspondence should be addressed.

Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16(16), 2959; https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16162959

Received: 12 July 2019 / Revised: 13 August 2019 / Accepted: 14 August 2019 / Published: 16 August 2019

View Full-Text Download PDF

Browse Figures

Review Reports Citation Export

Abstract

Many parents experience “fever phobia”, based on misconceptions regarding the repercussions of fever in their children. The aim of this paper was to explore the conceptualizations of parents who are health professionals and parents without health qualifications on childhood fever. This qualitative study was based on grounded theory using a triangulated sample (theoretical sampling and snowball sampling) of parents of children aged 0 to 12 years old who received care for fever in the Emergency Primary Care Services two in Spanish municipalities. Data collection was based on focus groups segmented by gender, place of residence and education. Data analysis followed the constant comparative method and involved a coding process. Results show that independently of the parents’ place of residence or education, their perceptions of fever were somewhat ambivalent, beneficial at times, but also harmful. Parents acknowledged feelings of concern, fear, being overwhelmed, freezing up and relief once the fever was controlled. Health professional parents considered they had an extra responsibility for caring. Finally, parents without health education demanded more information from professionals. These results provide key information for the design of interventions directed at the management of fever in children. View Full-Text

Keywords: perception; grounded theory; fever; children; parents

▼ Show Figures

Figure 1

This is an open access article distributed under the Creative Commons Attribution License which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited

Supplementary Material

Supplementary File 1:
PDF-Document (PDF, 106 KiB)

Share and Cite

MDPI and ACS Style

Villarejo-Rodríguez, M.G.; Rodríguez-Martín, B. A Qualitative Study of Parents’ Conceptualizations on Fever in Children Aged 0 to 12 Years. Int. J. Environ. Res. Public Health 2019, 16, 2959. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16162959

AMA Style

Villarejo-Rodríguez MG, Rodríguez-Martín B. A Qualitative Study of Parents’ Conceptualizations on Fever in Children Aged 0 to 12 Years. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health. 2019; 16(16):2959. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16162959

Chicago/Turabian Style

Villarejo-Rodríguez, María G., and Beatriz Rodríguez-Martín. 2019. "A Qualitative Study of Parents’ Conceptualizations on Fever in Children Aged 0 to 12 Years" International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health 16, no. 16: 2959. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph16162959

Find Other Styles

Note that from the first issue of 2016, MDPI journals use article numbers instead of page numbers. See further details here.

Article Metrics

Abstract views Pdf views Html views

Article Menu

A Qualitative Study of Parents’ Conceptualizations on Fever in Children Aged 0 to 12 Years

Abstract

Supplementary Material

Share and Cite

Article Metrics

Article Access Statistics

Article Access Map by Country/Region

Further Information

Guidelines

MDPI Initiatives

Follow MDPI