Exploring Online Forums to Understand Parents’ and Families’ Views about Resources and Sources of Support for the Management of Children’s Chronic Insomnia in the Community and Primary Care.
Problem
Poor sleep can affect children’s development in a range of ways such as in behavioural, academic, cognitive, emotional and physiological domains. A common sleep disorder in children is Behavioural Insomnia (BI, a form of Chronic Insomnia) and it presents as problems initiating and/or maintaining sleep. Research indicates that behavioural and sleep hygiene interventions are effective for BI (Mindell et al, 2006; Allen et al 2016). Within primary care, BI could not only be addressed early, but it could also be prevented. However, research on the management of sleep in paediatric primary care (Honaker and Meltzer, 2016), though limited, suggests that sleep is not regularly discussed in paediatric consultations and that formal professional training on the topic is lacking. UK research (Hatton and Gardani, 2018) suggested that the internet is used as an information source by parents or carers of children with sleep problems. Other research (Porter and Ispa, 2012) also indicated that mothers discuss childrearing concerns on online message boards. However, there is no published research to date, which analyses online discussion forums to specifically explore parent’s perceptions of how children’s sleep problems are managed in primary care. Therefore, this study aims to explore what parents post in discussion forums about their concerns and expectations regarding children’s sleep problems, and how they perceive these sleep problems to be addressed during GP consultations. It also aims to explore whether the parents are aware of any resources (online, in the community or in primary care).
Approach
This study takes an exploratory qualitative approach by analysing posts from parents/carers in public online discussion forums, which are about children’s sleep problems in primary care or the community. Scoping searches have been conducted to inform a systematic search for each online forum included in this study. Final searches are being conducted in the three active online discussion forums using terms for sleep and terms for various primary care practitioners (e.g. ‘GP and ‘doctor’). Data is being collected by downloading the first 300 relevant discussion threads in total and data will be coded in Nvivo. Qualitative analysis of the threads will be based on inductive thematic analysis, involving reading and rereading the data, generating and reviewing a coding schedule and by refining the themes and subthemes that emerge.
Findings
Data is currently being collected. However, the results will be presented at the conference.
Consequences
Parents’ and carers’ perspectives about the available support for children’s sleep problems in primary care and the community will be highlighted by this study. This will therefore highlight areas for improvement which can be addressed by future research. It will also inform the development of possible support tools (to be used by families and primary care providers).