PEDIATRICS Vol. 107 No. 2 February 2001, p. e20

ELECTRONIC ARTICLE:
Circumcision: We Have Heard From the Experts; Now Let's Hear From the Parents

Received Apr 27, 2000; accepted Sep 15, 2000.

Robert Adler, MsED*; Sandra Ottaway, and Stacey Gould

From the ^* Department of Pediatrics, Childrens Hospital Los Angeles, Los Angeles, California and the University of Southern California, Keck School of Medicine, Los Angeles, California; and  California School of Professional Psychology, Los Angeles, California.

Objective.  The current study sought to investigate parental attitudes about circumcision and their satisfaction with the decision.

Methodology.  Parents of boys (6 months to 36 months old) in 3 different practices filled out a questionnaire while waiting for their child's well-child examination.

Results.  A total of 149 families were surveyed. Families (68) who did not have their sons circumcised were less satisfied with their decision. Compared with families (81) of circumcised children, parents of uncircumcised boys were less likely to have been asked by their physician about whether they wanted their child circumcised, believed that they did not receive adequate information about the procedure, felt less respected by their medical provider, and were more likely to reconsider their decision.

Conclusion.  The importance of adequate information and discussion is highlighted by this study.  Key words:  circumcision, doctor-patient communication, parental satisfaction.

CiteULike    Connotea    Del.icio.us    Digg    Facebook    Reddit    Technorati    Twitter    What's this?

eLetters: