Missed Appointments at a Child Development Centre and Barriers to Access Special Needs Services for Children in Klang Valley, Malaysia: A Mixed Methods Study

Fariza Fadzil, Idayu Badilla Idris, Norazlin Kamal Nor, Juriza Ismail, Azmi Mohd Tamil, Kamaliah Mohamad Noh, Noraziani Khamis, Noor Ani Ahmad, Salimah Othman and Rohana Ismail
Additional contact information
Fariza Fadzil: Department of Community Health, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Jalan Yaacob Latif, Bandar Tun Razak, Cheras, Kuala Lumpur 56000, Malaysia
Idayu Badilla Idris: Department of Community Health, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Jalan Yaacob Latif, Bandar Tun Razak, Cheras, Kuala Lumpur 56000, Malaysia
Norazlin Kamal Nor: Department of Paediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Jalan Yaacob Latif, Bandar Tun Razak, Cheras, Kuala Lumpur 56000, Malaysia
Juriza Ismail: Department of Paediatrics, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Jalan Yaacob Latif, Bandar Tun Razak, Cheras, Kuala Lumpur 56000, Malaysia
Azmi Mohd Tamil: Department of Community Health, Faculty of Medicine, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, Jalan Yaacob Latif, Bandar Tun Razak, Cheras, Kuala Lumpur 56000, Malaysia
Kamaliah Mohamad Noh: Faculty of Medicine, University of Cyberjaya, Persiaran Bestari, Cyber 11, Cyberjaya 63000, Malaysia
Noraziani Khamis: Institute for Health Management, Ministry of Health Malaysia, Setia Murni U13/52, Section U13, Setia Alam, Shah Alam 40170, Malaysia
Noor Ani Ahmad: Institute for Public Health, Ministry of Health Malaysia, Setia Murni U13/52, Section U13, Setia Alam, Shah Alam 40170, Malaysia
Salimah Othman: Family Health Development Division, Public Health Department, Ministry of Health Malaysia, Complex E, Precinct 1, Putrajaya 62590, Malaysia
Rohana Ismail: Family Health Development Division, Public Health Department, Ministry of Health Malaysia, Complex E, Precinct 1, Putrajaya 62590, Malaysia

IJERPH, 2021, vol. 19, issue 1, 1-20

Abstract: Attending appointments is vital for children with special needs, as such appointments involve long-term interdisciplinary care to ensure continuity of care and improve health and well-being. This study was performed to determine the prevalence of missed clinic appointments and identify the factors among those who have ever missed appointments and barriers of access to children’s special needs services at the Child Development Centre (CDC) at the Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia Medical Centre (UKMMC). Moreover, suggestions for improvement from the caregivers’ perspectives were explored. This is an explanatory sequential mixed methods study among caregivers of children with developmental disabilities aged up to 17 years old. Of 197 caregivers, 62 (31.5%) had missed clinic appointments. Forgetfulness was the most frequently cited reason. The bi-variable analysis showed significant differences in missed appointment rates by gender of caregivers and duration of follow-up. The final logistic regression model demonstrated that, when combined with the effect of being a male caregiver as an independent variable, follow-up duration of more than 6 years increased 2.67 times the risk of missing an appointment. Caregivers’ perceived barriers were transportation, caregiver, child and healthcare services factors. Policies and strategic plans should be focused on key findings from these factors to improve appointment adherence and accessibility to services for children with special needs.

Keywords: missed appointments; children with special needs; developmental disability; caregivers; barriers (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/1/325/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/1/325/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2021:i:1:p:325-:d:713454

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().