TY - JOUR
T1 - Knowledge and beliefs, behaviors, and adherence among Latino parents or legal guardians related to antibiotic use for upper respiratory tract infections in children under 6 years of age
AU - Hernández-Díaz, Isaúl
AU - Ayala-Meléndez, Ashley
AU - González-González, Edmarielis
AU - Rosario-Calderón, Ivonne
AU - Figueroa-Ríos, Denise
AU - Melin, Kyle
AU - Hernández-Muñoz, José J.
N1 - Funding Information:
The authors acknowledge the contributions in the development of this project of “El Centro de Traducciones e Investigación del Programa Graduado de Traducción” from the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras Campus, for the cross-cultural translation of the instrument; the pharmacists and professors of School of Pharmacy of the University of Puerto Rico: Liza Castro, Ileana Rodríguez, Elsa Pedro, Frances Rodríguez, Wanda Marrero, Sacha Rivera; the pharmacists Suzette Vélez, María Báez, and Abel Morales; and pediatrician Eva Hernández García, who gave their expert opinion regarding the content equivalence and face validity of our instrument. Special thanks to the personnel who made communication possible to their corresponding institutions: Wilfredo E. De Jesus-Monge, Chief of Clinical Research and Irma Estrada, Director of Pharmacy of HIMA-San Pablo Caguas; José A. García, Human Resources Director, Yesenia Nieves Moreno and Thais Crespo Amador of Buen Samaritano Hospital; Blanca Santana, Associate Director, and Mónica Colón of Ashford Presbyterian Community Hospital; Olga González Cruz, Pharmacy Director at Hospital Pavia Hato Rey; Jorge A. Flores Rodríguez, ED Manager at UPR Hospital Dr. Federico Trilla; Alexis Maisonet Ventura, Human Resources Director of NeoMed Center Gurabo; Jennie Meléndez, Administrator of HIMA Hospital Humacao; Milagros B. Martin Jiménez, ED Director at University Pediatric Hospital and to their administrative personnel for enabling us to conduct this study in their facilities. We also thank Jesús J. Marrero for assisting with the statistical analysis. Disclosure: The authors declare no conflicts of interest or financial interests in any product or service mentioned in this article.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2019
PY - 2019/7/1
Y1 - 2019/7/1
N2 - Objective: Evaluate parents or legal guardians’ knowledge and beliefs, behaviors, and adherence regarding antibiotic use for upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) in their children who are younger than 6 years. Design: A cross-sectional study from September 2016 to February 2017. Setting: Emergency department with a pediatric unit. Participants: One hundred and one parents or legal guardians who visited one of the selected emergency departments during the study period. Intervention: Administration of a validated questionnaire to assess knowledge and beliefs, behaviors, and adherence regarding antibiotic use for URTI. Main outcome measures: Knowledge and beliefs, behaviors, and adherence regarding antibiotic use for URTI. Results: Items with the least desired scores were seen in the “knowledge and beliefs” domain. Higher number of antibiotics used for URTI during the last year (P < 0.01) and lower education level (P = 0.03) were associated with least desired knowledge and beliefs scores. The “behaviors” domain contained the items with the best scores: higher education level (P = 0.05), fewer antibiotics used for URTI during the last year (P = 0.05), and older age (P = 0.02) were the only variables associated with better behaviors. For the “adherence” domain, lower education level (P < 0.01) was associated with poor indicators of adherence. The Cronbach alpha for the “knowledge and beliefs” items was 0.875, the “behaviors” items 0.569, and the “adherence” items 0.798. Conclusion: Findings of our study support the need for proper antibiotic education among parents, especially in those with an increased risk of antibiotic misuse and overuse. Pharmacists and physicians need to establish a dialogue with parents or legal guardians to discuss how antibiotics work, what types of infection they treat, and how to prevent antibiotic resistance. Sociodemographic variables can be used to identify at-risk groups and to develop successful interventions.
AB - Objective: Evaluate parents or legal guardians’ knowledge and beliefs, behaviors, and adherence regarding antibiotic use for upper respiratory tract infection (URTI) in their children who are younger than 6 years. Design: A cross-sectional study from September 2016 to February 2017. Setting: Emergency department with a pediatric unit. Participants: One hundred and one parents or legal guardians who visited one of the selected emergency departments during the study period. Intervention: Administration of a validated questionnaire to assess knowledge and beliefs, behaviors, and adherence regarding antibiotic use for URTI. Main outcome measures: Knowledge and beliefs, behaviors, and adherence regarding antibiotic use for URTI. Results: Items with the least desired scores were seen in the “knowledge and beliefs” domain. Higher number of antibiotics used for URTI during the last year (P < 0.01) and lower education level (P = 0.03) were associated with least desired knowledge and beliefs scores. The “behaviors” domain contained the items with the best scores: higher education level (P = 0.05), fewer antibiotics used for URTI during the last year (P = 0.05), and older age (P = 0.02) were the only variables associated with better behaviors. For the “adherence” domain, lower education level (P < 0.01) was associated with poor indicators of adherence. The Cronbach alpha for the “knowledge and beliefs” items was 0.875, the “behaviors” items 0.569, and the “adherence” items 0.798. Conclusion: Findings of our study support the need for proper antibiotic education among parents, especially in those with an increased risk of antibiotic misuse and overuse. Pharmacists and physicians need to establish a dialogue with parents or legal guardians to discuss how antibiotics work, what types of infection they treat, and how to prevent antibiotic resistance. Sociodemographic variables can be used to identify at-risk groups and to develop successful interventions.
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U2 - 10.1016/j.japh.2019.03.004
DO - 10.1016/j.japh.2019.03.004
M3 - Article
C2 - 31036526
AN - SCOPUS:85064617408
SN - 1544-3191
VL - 59
SP - 506
EP - 513
JO - Journal of the American Pharmacists Association
JF - Journal of the American Pharmacists Association
IS - 4
ER -