Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-r5fsc Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T22:28:58.422Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Parental pressure for tonsillectomy: attitudes and knowledge of parents accompanying their children to an ear, nose and throat clinic

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  09 July 2009

Clive G. Long  and
Derek H. Smith
Clive G. Long*
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Walsgrave Hospital, Coventry
Derek H. Smith
Affiliation:
Department of Psychology, Walsgrave Hospital, Coventry
*
1 Address for correspondence: Clive G. Long, Department of Psychology, Walsgrave Hospital, Clifford Bridge Road, Coventry.
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Synopsis

The parents of 120 children referred for possible tonsillectomy to an ear, nose and throat (ENT) surgeon were studied. There was no evidence that a desire for the operation fulfilled ‘psychological needs’ for parents or was a means of coping with a ‘deviant’ child. Parents favouring tonsillectomy were less well informed, and the educational role of the general practitioner in reducing the small number of those who inappropriately pressurize medical services is highlighted.

Type
Preliminary Communication
Information
Psychological Medicine , Volume 15 , Issue 3 , August 1985 , pp. 689 - 693
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 1985

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

REFERENCES

Ad Hoc Committee on Tonsillectomy and Adenoidectomy (1979). State of the art and current problems. Annals of Otology, Rhinology and Laryngology Suppl. 19.Google Scholar
Bain, D. G. & Sales, C. M. (1981). Referring children to an ENT department and prescribing psychotropic drugs to their mothers. British Medical Journal 283, 585–587.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Bakwin, H. (1958). The tonsil–adenoidectomy enigma. Journal of Pediatrics 52, 339–361.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Bolande, R. P. (1969). Ritualistic surgery – circumcision and tonsillectomy. New England Journal of Medicine 280, 591–596.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Cowan, D. L. (1982). Tonsils and adenoids. In Logan Turner's Diseases of the Nose, Throat and Ear (9th edn) (ed. Birrell, J. F.), pp. 80–106. Wright: Bristol.Google Scholar
Davis, J. B. (1977). Neurotic illness in the families of children with asthma and wheezy bronchitis. Psychological Medicine 7, 305–310.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Downey, K. J. (1967). Public images of mental illness: a factor analytic study of causes and symptoms. Social Science and Medicine 1, 45–65.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Fries, M. (1946). The child's ego development and the training of adults in his environment. The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child 2, 85–119.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Fry, J. (1957). Are all T's and A's really necessary? British Medical Journal i, 124–128.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Furman, R. (1959). Handling parental pressure for the T and A. Journal of Pediatrics 54, 195–199.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Howie, J. G. R. & Bigg, A. R. (1980). Family trends in psychotropic and antibiotic prescribing in general practice. British Medical Journal 280, 836–838.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Jessner, L., Blom, G. E. & Waldfogel, S. (1952). Emotional implications of tonsillectomy and adenoidectomy on children. The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child 7, 126–170.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Lipton, S. D. (1962). On the psychology of childhood tonsillectomy. The Psychoanalytic Study of the Child 17, 363–417.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Menninger, K. A. (1934). Polysurgery and polysurgical addiction. Psychoanalytic Quarterly 3, 173–199.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Meyer, W. (1870). On adenoid vegetations in the naso-pharyngeal cavity; their pathology, diagnosis and treatment. Medico-Chirurgical Transactions 53, 191–217.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Pilowsky, I. (1967). Dimensions of hypochondriasis. British Journal of Psychiatry 113, 89–93.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Rolleston, C. (1939). Observations on 1136 cases of enlarged tonsils and adenoids. British Journal of Child Disease 36, 253–260.Google Scholar
Rutter, M., Tizard, J., Whitmore, K. (eds.) (1970). Education, Health and Behaviour. Longmans: London.Google Scholar