title: Parental perspectives on inpatient versus outpatient management of pediatric febrile neutropenia.
abstract: To describe parent preference for treatment of febrile neutropenia and the key drivers of parental decision making, structured face-to-face interviews were used to elicit parent preferences for inpatient versus outpatient management of pediatric febrile neutropenia. Parents were presented with 4 different scenarios and asked to indicate which treatment option they preferred and to describe reasons for this preference during the face-to-face interview. Comments were recorded in writing by research assistants. A consensus approach to thematic analysis was used to identify themes from the written comments of the research assistants. A total of 155 parents participated in the study. Of these, 80 (51.6%) parents identified hospital-based intravenous treatment as the most preferred treatment scenario for febrile neutropenia. The major themes identified included convenience/disruptiveness, physical health, emotional well-being, and modifiers of parental decision making. Most parents preferred hospital-based treatment for febrile neutropenia. An understanding of issues that influence parental decision making may assist health care workers in planning program implementation and further support families in their decision-making process.
authors.affiliation: Hospital for Sick Children, Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: Caroline
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Diorio
authors.forename: Julia
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Martino
authors.forename: Katherine Mary
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Boydell
authors.forename: Marie-Chantal
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Ethier
authors.forename: Chris
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Mayo
authors.forename: Richard
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Wing
authors.forename: Oliver
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Teuffel
authors.forename: Lillian
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Sung
authors.forename: Deborah
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Tomlinson
mesh_terms: D002648:Child; D005334:Fever / Q000209:etiology / Q000628:therapy*; D006801:Humans; D009503:Neutropenia / Q000150:complications / Q000628:therapy*; D010290:Parents / Q000523:psychology*