THE EXTENT OF PARENTAL COMPLIANCE WITH TIMING OF ADMINISTRATION OF THEIR CHILDRENS ANTIBIOTICS

Antibiotics are widely prescribed to children, and the responsibility for ensuring adequate administration typically rests with parents. How ever, compliance with antibiotic medication is generally low, and prev ious studies often fail to specify the criteria for compliance adequat ely. in particular, little attention has been paid to accuracy of timi ng of antibiotic administration outside hospital, even though timing i s important in maintaining therapeutic drug levels. The current study examined the self-reports of 75 mothers of their behaviours in adminis tration of antibiotics to their children, with particular attention be ing paid to the frequency and timing of administration. The study foun d that, when timing of doses was considered, only seven parents could be considered as fully compliant with dosage instructions, a much lowe r proportion than indicated in previous studies which applied a more l enient definition of compliance. The implications of this finding are discussed, with particular reference to the role of the nurse and to t he comparative usefulness of different definitions of compliance.