The referral of children to medical organizations as a criterion for the medical activity of parents.

Abstract

An important component of the lifestyle of the population is medical activity, which plays a significant role in maintaining and strengthening the health of not only the adult population, but also children. Purpose of the study: evaluation of the influence of the social characteristics of families in the Chechen Republic on the appeal of children to medical organizations. Materials and methods. The collections “The incidence of the Russian child population (0–14 years old) with a diagnosis established for the first time in life” of the Federal State Budgetary Educational Institution of Central Research Institute of Health and Human Health for 2017–2021 were analyzed. A subjective assessment of children’s referral to medical organizations was carried out on the basis of the results of a survey of 536 parents, which was carried out using the «Questionnaire of the parents of a child under the age of 7 years» in 2021 in 9 districts of the Chechen Republic. Mathematical data processing was carried out using spreadsheets of the MS Office‑2016 software package (Word, Excel) and the StatSoft-Statistica 10.0 statistical software package. Results. Primary morbidity, according to the data on the appealability of the children’s population of the Chechen Republic, is 3.7 times lower than the national average. The number of children in the family, the education of the parents and the financial situation of the family influence the number of children in the family. In families with 5 or more children, parents are less medically active in terms of seeking medical care than in families with 1–2 children and 3–4 children (p<0.05). Families where the mother or father have an incomplete secondary education compared to families where the father or mother has a complete secondary or higher education, including incomplete higher education, parents are significantly more likely to show less medical activity (p<0.01). Families where the funds for the normal material support of the child are not fully enough or not enough at all, more often do not seek medical help or seek medical help only in case of a serious illness of the child, compared with financially secure families (p <0.01). The medical activity of parents is not affected by the age of the parents, family residence in the city or countryside, whether the child is organized or not, and he is also brought up in a family where mothers work or are housewives (p> 0.05). Conclusion. One of the most significant subjective reasons for low attendance to medical organizations in the event of a child’s illness is the low medical activity of parents, which largely depends on the social characteristics of the family. Families with 5 children or more, families where one of the parents has an incomplete secondary education, and families with a low financial situation are more likely to show poor medical care. Scope of the results. Development of organizational measures aimed at improving the quality and availability of medical care in organizations of the children’s healthcare system.