Psychological readiness of parents of young children with atopic dermatitis to implement medical recommendations

Abstract

Introduction. The issues of increasing the effectiveness of the treatment of atopic dermatitis (AD) in young children remain extremely relevant. At the same time, insufficient attention is paid to such a socially controlled factor in treatment as the readiness of parents to comply with the recommendations of specialists. Materials and methods. In the course of an observational cross-sectional study, there was made an analysis of medical and social data and the results of a survey of forty eight parents of children under the age of 2 years 11 months who were hospitalized in the Department of Dermatology of the National Medical Research Center for Children’s Health of the Ministry of Health of Russia with established severe AD. The author’s questionnaire «Attitude of parents of young AD children to recommendations», adapted by M. Rokich’s method «Value Orientations» was used. Results. Despite the declared satisfactory adherence to treatment in more than 70% of cases parents of young AD children (94%) were established to experience one or a number of psychological problems that act as a subjective obstacle to the implementation of pediatrician’s prescriptions: lack of awareness or misinformation in regarding the treatment of the child, the lack of the habit of observing the principles of «healthy» nutrition, emotional and educational difficulties, the weak expression of the priority of «health» in the value system. According to the expert analysis of the answers of parents, a satisfactory readiness to comply with the recommendations was noted in only 11 (23%) cases, poor — in 37 (77%) cases. Conclusion. To improve the effectiveness of treatment of children with severe AD, it is necessary to strengthen the motivation of parents to cooperate with specialists and increase their psychological readiness to follow the recommendations.