Which Sources of Child Health Advice Do Parents Follow?

Background: Parents consult other child health information sources in addition to the pediatrician. There are little data describing which of these sources parents are likely to follow. Methods: The authors surveyed 543 parents of patients in 6 pediatric practices in southeast Michigan shortly after an office visit to determine the degree to which parents report following advice from 7 common child health sources on a scale from 1 (don't follow at all) to 7 (follow completely). Results: Pediatrician advice was more completely followed than other sources with mothers a distant second. Although 96% of parents used the Internet to find child health information, few followed most of the advice found there. White parents were 3 times more likely than African Americans to follow advice from television and newspapers. Conclusion: Parents rely on child health advice from the pediatrician and their mother. Other sources are consulted but not widely followed.

背景：家长除了咨询儿科医生外，还会参考其他儿童健康信息来源。几乎没有数据描述家长可能会遵循哪些信息来源。 方法：作者在密歇根州东南部的6家儿科诊所对543名患者的家长在就诊后不久进行了调查，以确定家长报告遵循7种常见儿童健康信息来源建议的程度，评分范围从1分（完全不遵循）到7分（完全遵循）。 结果：儿科医生的建议比其他来源的建议更被完全遵循，母亲的建议紧随其后但差距较大。尽管96%的家长使用互联网查找儿童健康信息，但很少有人遵循在网上找到的大部分建议。白人家长遵循电视和报纸建议的可能性是非洲裔美国人的3倍。 结论：家长依赖儿科医生和自己母亲的儿童健康建议。也会参考其他来源，但并不广泛遵循。