Citation

Feary N, McKinlay A. J. Child Health Care 2018; ePub(ePub): 1367493518799617.

Affiliation

1 Melbourne School of Psychological Sciences, The University of Melbourne, Parkville, Victoria, Australia.

Copyright

(Copyright © 2018, SAGE Publishing)

DOI

10.1177/1367493518799617

PMID

30213191

Abstract

Children do not always receive adequate medical attention following a mild traumatic brain injury (mTBI), despite the necessity of this treatment. Adult mTBI knowledge may be one factor that affects if a child receives medical attention, but little is known about association between mTBI knowledge and help-seeking behaviour. Participants were 212 females and 58 males, including 84 parents, with a mean age of 35.57 years (standard deviation = 10.96). A questionnaire evaluated participants' understanding of mTBI and vignettes to evaluate behavioural intentions regarding help-seeking behaviour after an mTBI. Only 40.0% of participants were able to recall an adequate number of mTBI symptoms (5+). Surprisingly, mTBI history was not associated with better mTBI knowledge, t(df, 268) = 1.29, p =.20. Similarly, knowing a close friend or family member with mTBI was not associated with higher mTBI knowledge, t(df = 268) =.81, p =.4. Further, neither mTBI symptom knowledge nor vignette child age (young = 5 years, older = 15 years) significantly predicted participants' cited intentions to perform help-seeking behaviour. Consistent with the existing research, the current study demonstrates a continued lack of mTBI knowledge in the general population. However, this may not be a factor that influences an adult's decision to take a child to hospital following mTBI. Future research should investigate the association between help-seeking intentions and actual behaviour in relation to paediatric mTBI.

Language: en

Keywords

Health education; health knowledge; mild traumatic brain injury; parents; post-concussive symptoms