Parental experience of prophylactic antibiotics
Research type
Research Study
Full title
The parental experience of having a child prescribed prophylactic antibiotics
IRAS ID
248191
Contact name
Simon Hardman
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
Sheffield Children's NHS Foundation Trust
Duration of Study in the UK
0 years, 5 months, 1 days
Research summary
Antibiotics are used to treat bacterial infections. Short courses are prescribed for treating acute bacterial infections such as pneumonia. Some children are predisposed to getting serious bacterial infections or are at risk of developing significant problems relating to recurrent bacterial infections. For these children, the strategy of prescribing low dose regular “prophylactic” antibiotics is used to try and reduce the frequency of bacterial infections.
The use of long term antibiotics causes a change in the bacteria that normally colonise children. Bacteria that are resistant to the antibiotics are able to multiple and predispose these children to drug resistant bacterial infections. This is exacerbated by poor compliance with courses of antibiotics. Antimicrobial resistance is a serious threat to global health and requires action across the whole of society.
Parents are responsible for obtaining antibiotic prescriptions, ensuring an adequate supply of antibiotics at home and administering them to their child. It is therefore vital to understand what having a child on long term antibiotics means to them. It is known that parental knowledge, beliefs and attitudes are an essential factor when considering changes in antibiotics use. The public has also been found to have an incomplete understanding of antibiotic resistance and its causes. It is important to understand parental perceptions towards prophylactic antibiotic use and antibiotic resistance to ensure that adherence of their children to prescribed antibiotics is not compromised.
Studying these parental views in more depth may provide insight into how they perceive the risk of infection versus antibiotics, control in terms of their child’s health and how they interact with medical professionals. This may begin to shed light on novel ways of addressing compliance and discussing the prescribing of antibiotics in medical consultations.
REC name
North West - Haydock Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
18/NW/0579
Date of REC Opinion
7 Aug 2018
REC opinion
Favourable Opinion