Strategies parents use to give children oral medicine: a qualitative study of online discussion forums

Abstract

Aim: The aim of this study was to describe strategies parents use to give oral medicine to children.

Methods: We conducted an Internet-based qualitative study of posts from online forums where parents discussed how to give children oral medicine. The posts were analyzed using systematic text condensation. The investigators coded and developed groups iteratively, ending up with a consensus on final themes.

Results: We included 4581 posts. Parents utilized three main strategies to give oral medicine to children: (1) Open administration give medicine to the child knowingly by changing the palatability, actively involve the child in play or use persuasion; (2) Hidden administration give medicine to the child unknowingly by camouflaging it in food, while sleeping or distracted by another activity; (3) Forced administration force children to take medicine with the use of restraint. Parents expressed three perspectives towards using force: Finding it unproblematic, using force despite not liking it or refusing to use force. No single strategy was described as the obvious first choice, and the strategies were not used in any particular order. Parents who gave up getting their child to ingest the medicine reported to contact the prescriber for a different medication, or stopped the treatment completely.

Conclusions: The three strategies are a robust and precise way to categorize techniques used by parents to give children oral medicine. We suggest that health professionals use the strategies to talk to parents and children about administration of oral medicines.

Keywords:

• Administration
• oral
• child
• preschool
• infant
• palatability
• qualitative research
• parents
• internet

Disclosure statement

The authors have no real, potential or perceived conflicts of interest relevant to this article to disclose.

Funding

This study was funded by a grant from the Liaison Committee between the Central Norway Regional Health Authority and Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). The committee had no involvement in: (1) study design; (2) the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; (3) the writing of the report; and (4) the decision to submit the paper for publication.

Notes on contributors

Elin Høien Bergene is a PhD student at NTNU. She is trained as a pharmacist and has worked in hospital pharmacies and clinical pediatric settings. Her research interests include acceptability and administration of medicines for children.

Torstein Baade Rø is an associate professor at NTNU, and has worked as a pediatrician for 18 years at St. Olav?s Hospital. His research topics include childhood cancer as well as medication to children.

Aslak Steinsbekk is a professor in behavioural sciences in medicine and health service research at NTNU. He leads a research group for health service research, patient education and user involvement.