Child Health Evaluative Sciences, The Peter Gilgan Centre for Research and Learning, The Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, ON, Canada.
Department of Nutritional Sciences, University of Toronto, Toronto, ON, Canada.
BMC Prim Care. 2023 Apr 5;24(1):89. doi: 10.1186/s12875-023-02028-2.
Young children are often accompanied by their parent/caregiver when attending primary healthcare visits, where clinical procedures such as anthropometric measurements are conducted. Parents are not typically involved in their child's anthropometric measurement collection, and there are no recommendations for parental involvement during visits. The objective of this study was to describe parents' experiences with being involved in their child's anthropometric measurements.
A 10-question survey comprised of scaled and open-ended questions was self-administered to participants after child anthropometric measurement collection including length/height, weight, head, arm, and waist circumference. Survey data were analyzed using a general inductive approach and thematic analysis. Surveys were collected in participating TARGet Kids! primary care practice sites in Toronto, Canada. Survey respondents included 30 parents of children < 2 years of age, and 30 parents of children 2-5 years of age.
76% of parents with children aged < 2 years and 93% of those with children aged 2-5 years rated their overall experience in being involved in their child's anthropometric measurement as enjoyable or thoroughly enjoyable. Analysis of open-ended survey questions revealed five themes: [1] parent interest in child growth; [2] ease of anthropometric measurement; [3] extended clinic visit; [4] child discomfort; and [5] interest in participating in research.
Parents reported a high degree of enjoyment in being involved in their child's anthropometric measurements. Parent participation in anthropometric measurement may improve parental satisfaction with children's primary healthcare. Future research may include assessing the reliability of measurements taken with the support of a parent/caregiver.
儿童在接受初级保健就诊时通常由其父母/照顾者陪同，在此期间会进行体格测量等临床操作。父母通常不参与孩子的体格测量收集，也没有关于在就诊期间让父母参与的建议。本研究的目的是描述父母参与孩子体格测量的体验。
在对儿童进行体格测量（包括身高/长度、体重、头围、臂围和腰围）后，参与者自行填写了一份包含 10 个问题的调查问卷，其中包括量表和开放式问题。使用一般归纳方法和主题分析对调查数据进行分析。调查在加拿大多伦多的 TARGet Kids！初级保健实践点进行。调查对象包括 30 名 2 岁以下儿童的家长和 30 名 2-5 岁儿童的家长。
76%的 2 岁以下儿童家长和 93%的 2-5 岁儿童家长对参与孩子体格测量的总体体验评价为愉快或非常愉快。对开放式调查问题的分析揭示了五个主题：[1] 父母对孩子生长的兴趣；[2] 体格测量的容易程度；[3] 延长的就诊时间；[4] 孩子的不适；以及 [5] 参与研究的兴趣。
父母报告说，他们非常享受参与孩子体格测量的过程。父母参与体格测量可能会提高父母对孩子初级保健的满意度。未来的研究可以包括评估在父母/照顾者的支持下进行测量的可靠性。
