Why Do Parents Bring Their Children to the Emergency Department? A Systematic Inventory of Motives

Table 3

Results of the confirmatory factor analysis. The global fit index value was .88; the comparative fit index value was .93; the root mean square error of adjustment value was .07 [.05–.08]; the Chi² value was 218.54, p < .001; and the Chi²/df ratio was 1.82. Correlation coefficients of each item with each factor.

One of the reasons I came to the PED today with my child is that...	Factors						Error	t
	SQT	BP	ECS	CRP	EF	DPC
I wished my child’s pain to be treated quickly	.66						.06	11.29
I wished my child no longer to suffer	.81						.05	15.49
I was personally very anxious	.55						.07	8.33
Caregivers in this department are the ones who are the most qualified		.85					.03	32.45
Caregivers in this department are the most specialized		.84					.03	29.71
The PED has all kinds of medical equipment in place		.95					.02	50.17
I was frightened by my child’s elevated fever			.79				.04	22.36
I wanted my child’s fever to be brought down			.88				.03	30.70
I was no longer able to put up with seeing my child with an elevated fever			.87				.03	29.71
I wanted to be viewed as a good parent				.90			.04	25.20
I wished my child to have nothing to reproach me for in the future				.77			.04	18.02
I wanted my child to be aware that I care about his/her health				.74			.04	16.84
I do not have the money to put down for a regular office visit					.56		.07	8.19
I have no regular physician and the emergency medical service told me to go quickly to the PED					.70		.06	11.14
The family physician did not respond to my call, and I was afraid my child was in need of surgery					.80		.06	13.10
I considered that my child had not been correctly treated by our family physician						.58	.06	10.05
I considered that the family physician’s diagnosis was wrong						.96	.04	21.56
I considered that the family physician had erred in his prescriptions						.75	.05	15.46
Mean rating of each factor	6.82	5.80	3.47	2.02	1.95	1.79
Standard deviation	2.72	3.17	3.07	2.12	1.42	1.77
Scores 6.0	69%	52%	23%	7%	3%	6%
Internal validity (alpha)	.69	.82	.90	.85	.68	.87

SQD = Seeking Quick Diagnosis, Treatment, and Reassurance, BP = PED as the Best Place, ECS = Empathic Concern for Child’s Suffering, CRP = Being Considered by Others as Responsible Parents, EF = External Factors, and DPC = Dissatisfaction with Previous Consultation.
is a measure of significance; values > 1.96 are considered significant.
To indicate how many ratings in each factor were quite high (6 on a scale of 1–10).