Parents’ and medical personnel's beliefs about infant teething

Many symptoms are attributed to teething. Little evidence exists to support these beliefs, despite their implications on clinical management. This study attempted to investigate parental and medical personnel's beliefs about teething. The study was conducted by means of a questionnaire, submitt...

Full description

Saved in:
Bibliographic Details
Published in:Patient education and counseling 2005-04, Vol.57 (1), p.122-125
Main Authors: Sarrell, E. Michael, Horev, Zeev, Cohen, Zeev, Cohen, Herman Avner
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Attitude of Health Personnel
Attitude to Health
Beliefs
Chi-Square Distribution
Diarrhea, Infantile - etiology
Fever
Fever - etiology
Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
Health Personnel - education
Health Personnel - psychology
Humans
Infant
Infant Welfare
Irritability
Irritable Mood
Israel
Morbidity
Nursing
Nursing Staff - education
Nursing Staff - psychology
Otitis - etiology
Parents - education
Parents - psychology
Pediatric Nursing - education
Pediatrics - education
Physicians - psychology
Sialorrhea
Sleep Wake Disorders - etiology
Surveys and Questionnaires
Teething
Tooth Eruption
Urban Population
Citations: Items that this one cites
Items that cite this one
Online Access:Get full text
Tags: Add Tag
No Tags, Be the first to tag this record!
Description
Summary:Many symptoms are attributed to teething. Little evidence exists to support these beliefs, despite their implications on clinical management. This study attempted to investigate parental and medical personnel's beliefs about teething. The study was conducted by means of a questionnaire, submitted to 55 pediatricians and 130 nurses. A parent survey was conducted simultaneously. We evaluated 462 questionnaires. An association of teeth eruption with infant morbidity was believed to exist by 76% of the responders, mostly by parents and nurses, and less so by physicians. Irritability, fever, and loose stools/diarrhea were believed to be the most common symptoms associated to teeth eruption. We conclude that almost all parents, the majority of nurses, and many physicians believe that teething is associated with the appearance of symptoms, most of which are minor and relate to discomfort rather than physical illness, but a substantial minority still ascribes potentially serious symptoms to teething.
ISSN:0738-3991
1873-5134
DOI:10.1016/j.pec.2004.05.005