Grandmothers' role in preventing unnecessary accident and emergency attendances: Cohort study

Abstract

Social support has an important effect on the way a family uses medical services. Grandmothers have been shown to influence discipline and care behaviour, but possible effects of grandmothers on child health have been little studied. A small retrospective study from Philadelphia in the United States suggested that when grandmothers were involved in a child's care there was a greater use of accident and emergency services. Our impression was that the reverse was true in Britain and that grandmothers had a beneficial role in supporting mothers and young children. We decided to investigate whether an involved grandmother affected use of services in our accident and emergency department.