Healthcare Seeking Behaviour of Primary Caregivers for Acute Otitis Media (AOM) in Children Aged 6 Months to Less Than 30 Months in Panama

• Healthcare seeking behaviour of primary caregivers when their child was suspected of having an AOM episode. [ Time Frame: During last six months before date of interview. ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  

• Occurrence of suspected AOM based on symptoms reported by the primary caregiver. [ Time Frame: During last six months before date of interview. ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  
• Potential determinants (such as access to healthcare facilities) influencing healthcare seeking behaviour of primary caregivers who suspected their child aged 6 months to < 30 months of having an AOM episode during the last six months. [ Time Frame: During last six months before date of interview. ] [ Designated as safety issue: No ]
  

The study is a cross sectional survey in which primary caregivers will be asked if they recall having observed an ear infection in the child in the age range 6 months to less than 30 months in the last 6 months. During the interview, the primary caregivers will be asked what they did for the child during that episode and whether they sought medical care or not. They will be also asked about the demographic characteristics (such as age range) of the child who experienced that episode and the household environment of the child at the time of the episode (such as number of household members), etc.

No questions will be asked about the episode itself if the primary caregiver does not recall that the child had one in the last six months.

Approximately 1300 primary caregivers will be interviewed in multiple clinics / well-baby clinics in Panama.

The clinics will be stratified into 'former clinical trial sites' and 'non-clinical trial sites' in urban areas of Panama, based on participation in the COMPAS trial. Both 'former clinical trial sites' and 'non-clinical trial sites' will include private and public facilities. Sites will be selected by convenience sampling and eligible subjects will be enrolled on an on-going basis, in proportion to the population coverage of each site. The participating sites have thus been stratified to be able to assess whether the healthcare seeking behaviour of primary caregivers enrolled at former clinical trial sites are different from those enrolled at non clinical trial sites.