Parental acceptance of pediatric behavior management techniques: A comparative study

Abstract

Objectives: To evaluate and compare the attitude toward behavior techniques among parents of healthy and special children in Indian subpopulation. Materials and Methods: Parents of healthy (Group A) and special children (Group B) watched videotape vignette of 10 behavior management techniques (BMTs) in groups and rated them using Visual Analog Scale (VAS). Group B parents were subgrouped as: Group B 1 (34 parents of medically compromised children), Group B 2 (34 parents of physically compromised children), and Group B 3 (34 parents of children with neuropathological disorders). Results: Both Group A and Group B subjects judged all techniques as "acceptable." Group B parents were less accepting to techniques than Group A parents, except live modeling. Contingent escape and live modeling were the first ranked techniques in Group A and Group B parents, respectively. Voice control (VC) and hand-over-mouth exercise (HOM) were the least accepted techniques in both groups. Parents with low income and less education were more receptive to the techniques studied. A total of 25.49% of parents in each group did not consent to the use of HOM. Conclusion: Factors such as having a disabled child, low income, and less education influenced parental acceptability. HOM should be used with great caution and clinicians should approach the issue of informed consent on an individual basis.

Keywords

• Behavior management
• child behavior
• informed consent
• parental acceptability
• parental attitudes