This study examines parental and child level information to identify ways to improve rates of preventive care, including vaccinations, for children.
Study Overview
Problem: Many children are not receiving adequate preventive healthcare. This includes missing yearly well-child visits, and not being up-to-date on recommended vaccinations, screenings, and assessments.
Main Objective: To identify which parental factors are most strongly associated with children receiving recommended preventive care and explore how social determinants of health influence healthcare utilization for the whole family.
Approach: The research team conducted qualitative interviews with approximately 30-40 parents to understand their perceptions towards preventive care and learn what barriers could be addressed to make it easier for their children to receive recommended care. Using electronic health record data from over 2 million patients, including over 350,000 children from 18 states, the researchers analyzed health, healthcare factors, and social determinants of health for both parents and children. The research team used a sequential mixed-methods approach to conduct analyses based on qualitative insights.
Results: To date, findings from this study show that parents who participate in preventive care themselves are more likely to bring their children in for routine well-child visits.1 In addition, children are more likely to be up-to-date on routine vaccinations if their parents receive regular vaccinations.2 Additional publications for this study are expected. Current and future publications can be found here.
Primary Care Relevance
Findings from this study help inform potential primary care interventions to improve the access and utilization of children’s recommended healthcare by improving the preventive healthcare for parents.
AHRQ Primary Care Priority Area
Research to improve primary care, including regarding quality, access and affordability, the workforce, care delivery models, financing, digital healthcare, person-centeredness, and health equity.
Notes
1. Angier, H., Kaufmann, J., Heintzman, J., O'Malley, J., Moreno, L., Giebultowicz, S., & Marino, M. (2022). Association of Parent Preventive Care with their Child's Recommended Well-Child Visits. Academic Pediatrics 22(8), 1422-1428.
2. Kaufmann, J., DeVoe, J. E., Angier, H., Moreno, L., Cahen, V., & Marino, M. (2022). Association of parent influenza vaccination and early childhood vaccinations using linked electronic health record data. Vaccine 40(49), 7097-7107
