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Table 4 Clinician question coding by type and structural form

From: Addressing the quality and scope of paediatric primary care in South Africa: evaluating contextual impacts of the introduction of the Practical Approach to Care Kit for children (PACK Child)

 

Structural form of Question

Question Type

Question Example

Number of consultations N (%)

Polar N (%)

Content N (%)

Alternative

N (%)

Total

N

Wider information gathering

“Any symptoms that you are having concerns about, besides his skin now?”

41 (77)

194 (77)

50 (20)

7 (3)

251

Assessing feeding/growth monitoring/ immunisations

“So you are no longer breastfeeding?”

37 (70)

165 (69)

69 (29)

6 (3)

240

Asking about reported complaint

“Coughing for how many days?”

45 (85)

119 (61)

67 (34)

9 (5)

195

Eliciting psychosocial issues

“And you do you have support from the child’s father?”

29 (55)

143 (84)

24 (14)

4 (2)

171

Asking about HIV or TB

“Have you tested for HIV when you were pregnant?”

36 (68)

95 (71)

32 (24)

7 (5)

134

Asking about treatments

“What tablet did you give?”

31 (58)

86 (72)

27 (23)

7 (6)

120

Asking about other long term health conditions

“Is he a known asthmatic?”

18 (34)

50 (89)

6 (11)

0 (0)

56

Asking about family planning

“And you yourself are you on any family planning mommy?”

19 (36)

26 (72)

9 (25)

1 (3)

36

Assessing past medical care other than TB/HIV

“So the child hasn’t been treated at any other institution before for anything, for this problem?”

7 (13)

6 (67)

2 (22)

1 (11)

9

Eliciting caregiver concerns, ideas, expectations

“Is there anything that you would like to ask?”

5 (9)

6 (100)

0 (0)

0 (0)

6

Total

  

890

286

42

1218

  1. Notes: This table shows the number and proportion of consultations for each question type in the sample of observed consultations. It also shows the number and proportion of different structures within each question type. Polar questions prefer a yes or no response. Content questions (or Wh- questions) are open questions inviting new information whereas alternative questions present two or more options embedded in the question. Proportion of consultations is a percentage of all 53 consultations. Proportion of polar, content and alternative questions are percentages within each question type category