Mothers' understanding of their children's bodies

Abstract

■ Children under 6 months, brought to the accident and emergency department (A&E) are distressed by problems often related to digestion

■ Parental knowledge of their children's bodies showed relatively little differentiation between structures

■ They made clear distinctions between the quality of their baby's crying and the problem

■ Parents made decisions to seek help on the basis of the quality of their child's crying and thereby its associated disorder

■ Telephone advice for parents may be the way forward in service provision, and will therefore require more exacting knowledge from the parents

■ The research approach used in the study - cognitive mapping - appeared to be acceptable to the mothers, as a way of eliciting representations