Abstract
Background
While bronchiolitis is one of the principal causes of emergency consultations and hospitalisations in children, it is also a source of distress for parents. Parental experiences of their children’s bronchiolitis have not been well described, and parents do not have access to validated standardized educational resources on this topic.
Objectives
To explore parents’ experiences of their children’s care for bronchiolitis and their educational preferences about the disease.
Design/Methods
A qualitative study was conducted between February and August 2018 in a tertiary care pediatric university affiliated hospital. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with parents whose children were diagnosed with bronchiolitis. The interview guide was co-constructed by a multidisciplinary team of clinicians and parents of children previously afflicted with bronchiolitis. Maximal variation was sought through purposive sampling, and interviews were conducted until data saturation was achieved. Interviews were transcribed verbatim and analysed using NVivo v.12 (QSR International). Thematic content analysis was performed by coding themes emerging from the data. Codes were validated by interjudge assessment and divergences were resolved through discussion.
Results
Thirteen families (15 parents - 5 fathers, 10 mothers) were interviewed. Patients’ mean age at time of bronchiolitis was 4 months; 11 were hospitalised. Overall, parents were very worried about their child’s health condition (Figure 1). They had little knowledge about bronchiolitis before their child contracted the infection, contributing to their anxiety. Parents expressed a strong need for reassurance and education from healthcare teams. Nonetheless, they believed standardised information about the illness would be insufficient for reassurance. They sought personalized support throughout the course of their child’s bronchiolitis, with information being adapted to their current situation and context. Conversely, parents felt that bronchiolitis seemed a frequent and common diagnosis that was sometimes met with detachment from the healthcare teams, especially given the paucity of effective treatments.
Conclusion
Despite the high incidence of bronchiolitis, the disease is often unknown by parents who seek both personalised information and support throughout their child’s illness. Standardized educational tools on bronchiolitis can help inform parents, but are insufficient to meet all of their needs.
