Thomas J. Hipper, MSPH, MA, is Associate Director, Center for Public Health Readiness and Communication, and an Assistant Professor, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, Dornsife School of Public Health, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA.
Leah Popek, MPH, is Project Coordinator, Center for Public Health Readiness and Communication, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, Dornsife School of Public Health, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA.
Health Secur. 2022 Nov-Dec;20(6):467-478. doi: 10.1089/hs.2022.0033. Epub 2022 Dec 2.
Children and youth with special healthcare needs are at risk for severe consequences during infectious disease emergencies. Messages for parents and caregivers from trusted sources, via preferred channels, that contain the information they need, may improve health outcomes for this population. In this mixed methods study, we conducted a survey (N = 297) and 80 semistructured interviews, with 70 caregivers of children and youth and 10 young adults with special healthcare needs, between April 2018 and June 2019 in Pennsylvania. The survey presented 3 scenarios (ie, storm, disease outbreak, radiation event); the interviews included questions about storms and an outbreak. This article addresses only the disease outbreak data from each set. Participants were recruited through convenience samples from an urban tertiary care children's hospital and practices in a statewide medical home network. In this article, we summarize the preferred information sources, channels, and content needs of caregivers of children and youth with special healthcare needs during an infectious disease emergency. Nearly 84% of caregivers reported that they believe their child's doctor is the best source of information. Other preferred sources include medical experts (31%); the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (30%); friends, family, and neighbors (21%); and local or state health and emergency management (17%). Pediatric healthcare providers play an important role in providing information to parents and caregivers of children and youth with special healthcare needs during an infectious disease emergency. Public health agencies can establish health communication plans that integrate medical practices and other reliable sources to promote the dissemination of accurate information from trusted messengers.
有特殊医疗需求的儿童和青少年在传染病紧急情况下有发生严重后果的风险。来自可靠来源、通过首选渠道向父母和照顾者发送包含他们所需信息的消息，可能会改善这一人群的健康结果。在这项混合方法研究中，我们于 2018 年 4 月至 2019 年 6 月在宾夕法尼亚州进行了一项调查（N=297）和 80 次半结构化访谈，涉及 70 名儿童和青少年的照顾者以及 10 名有特殊医疗需求的年轻人。该调查呈现了 3 种情景（即风暴、疾病暴发、辐射事件）；访谈包括有关风暴和暴发的问题。本文仅针对每组中的疾病暴发数据进行讨论。参与者是通过城市三级儿童保健医院和全州医疗家庭网络中的实践的便利样本招募的。在本文中，我们总结了有特殊医疗需求的儿童和青少年的照顾者在传染病紧急情况下对首选信息来源、渠道和内容的需求。近 84%的照顾者表示，他们认为孩子的医生是信息的最佳来源。其他首选来源包括医学专家（31%）、美国疾病控制与预防中心（30%）、朋友、家人和邻居（21%）以及当地或州卫生和应急管理部门（17%）。儿科医疗保健提供者在传染病紧急情况下为有特殊医疗需求的儿童和青少年的父母和照顾者提供信息方面发挥着重要作用。公共卫生机构可以制定卫生沟通计划，整合医疗实践和其他可靠来源，以促进从可信赖的信息传递者传播准确信息。
