Table 3 Themes related to not following up
From: Failure of psychiatric referrals from the pediatric emergency department
General Themes | Examples |
|---|---|
Problems were not "Bad enough" | • "I believe my child has an issue that needs to be addressed and feel that a follow up visit would help with this problem, but it is not "bad" enough to warrant a visit now". |
|  | • "I do think [my child] had a problem but don't think it is necessary [to have a mental health evaluation]. |
Labeling | • "I felt uncomfortable with the sense of him having ADHD. I didn't want for him to be labeled." This same mother believed her child had issues that needed to be dealt with. She also thought a follow up visit would help. |
Logistical Issues | • A few parents had logistical problems making it to an appointment during the school day hours. |
|  | • One mother was a home daycare provider and needed someone to take over for her to get time to come. She didn't really think there was a problem that needed to be addressed and thought these were "teenager things, she is doing teenager things, that they get angry". |
Feelings about these questions in the ED | • One mother was anxious about being asked all the questions while at the ED. She did not feel she understood the nature of the interviews well. She worried that the investigator's follow up call meant something was wrong. (Interestingly, this mother ended up coming in for an evaluation with her child once her concerns were addressed.) |