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Attitude of health‐care providers toward childhood leukemia patients with different socio‐economic status
Author(s) -
Mostert Saskia,
Sitaresmi Mei N.,
Gundy Chad M.,
Veerman Anjo J.P.
Publication year - 2008
Publication title -
pediatric blood and cancer
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.116
H-Index - 105
eISSN - 1545-5017
pISSN - 1545-5009
DOI - 10.1002/pbc.21324
Subject(s) - medicine , blood cancer , family medicine , health care , socioeconomic status , cancer , environmental health , population , economics , economic growth
Background Treatment results differ significantly between poor and prosperous children with leukemia in Indonesia. The objective of this study was to determine whether parental socio‐economic status influences beliefs, attitude, and behavior of health‐care providers (hcp) treating childhood leukemia in Indonesia. Procedure A self‐administered semi‐structured questionnaire was filled in by 102 hcp (69 doctors, 28 nurses, 2 psychologists, 2 hematology technicians, 1 administrator). Results Most hcp (98%) asked parents about their financial situation. The decision to start treatment was influenced by parental socio‐economic status (86%), motivation of parents (80%), and motivation of doctors (76%). Health‐care providers stated that prosperous patients comply better with treatment (64%), doctors comply better with treatment for the prosperous (53%), most patients cannot afford to complete treatment (58%), less extensive explanations are given toward poor families (60%), and communication is impeded by differences in status (67%). When dealing with prosperous families a minority of hcp stated that they pay more attention (27%), work with greater accuracy (24%), take more interest (23%), and devote more time per visit (22%). Most hcp denied differences in the quality of medical care (93%) and the chances of cure (58%) between poor and prosperous patients. Conclusions Beliefs, attitude, and behavior of hcp toward poor versus prosperous patients appeared to differ. These differences may contribute to the immense drop‐out rate and slight chances of survival among poor patients with leukemia in developing countries. Pediatr Blood Cancer 2008;50:1001–1005. © 2007 Wiley‐Liss, Inc.