Kai J
Department of Primary Health Care, School of Health Care Sciences, Medical School, Newcastle upon Tyne.
BMJ. 1993 Sep 11;307(6905):660-2. doi: 10.1136/bmj.307.6905.660.
To explore the attitudes of parents to measuring their babies' rectal temperature.
Qualitative study using unstructured interviews of parents given "Baby Check," a scoring system designed to assess severity of illness in babies that includes measurement of rectal temperature.
One inner city general practice in Newcastle upon Tyne.
42 parents of 34 babies under 6 months old.
Parents were reluctant to measure rectal temperature in their babies; 37 parents spontaneously raised concerns. Fifteen did not undertake measurement, 16 did so once only, and 11 did so more than once. Parents' concerns included a fear of hurting their child, anxieties about sexual intimacy and abuse, difficulty in comforting their child, and concern for their child's feelings. Most (33) substituted axillary measurement.
Parents' preference for the axillary method of measuring temperature and resistance to using a rectal method in their children was based on several concerns. If parents are to be encouraged to use the rectal method of measuring temperature in sick babies any benefits must be set against the generation of considerable parental anxiety and the resources that would be necessary to negotiate with parents and change their views.
探讨家长对测量其婴儿直肠温度的态度。
采用定性研究方法，对接受“婴儿检查”的家长进行非结构化访谈。“婴儿检查”是一种旨在评估婴儿疾病严重程度的评分系统，其中包括测量直肠温度。
泰恩河畔纽卡斯尔的一家市中心全科诊所。
34名6个月以下婴儿的42位家长。
家长们不愿为自己的婴儿测量直肠温度；37位家长主动表达了担忧。15位家长未进行测量，16位家长仅测量过一次，11位家长测量过不止一次。家长们的担忧包括害怕伤害孩子、对性亲密和虐待的焦虑、难以安抚孩子以及担心孩子的感受。大多数家长（33位）采用腋温测量替代。
家长们对腋温测量方法的偏好以及对在孩子身上使用直肠测量方法的抵触基于多种担忧。如果要鼓励家长对生病的婴儿使用直肠测量温度的方法，那么任何益处都必须与引发家长的相当大焦虑以及与家长沟通并改变其观点所需的资源相权衡。
