Parental perceptions and understanding of information provision, management options and factors influencing the decision-making process in the treatment of children with glue ear.

Objectives: Otitis media with effusion (OME) is a common cause of hearing loss and possible developmental delay in children, and there are a range of 'preference sensitive' treatment options. We aimed to evaluate the attitudes and beliefs of parents of affected children to treatment options including watchful-waiting, hearing aids, grommets, and, oral steroids with the intention of developing our understanding of decision-making and the factors influencing it, sources of parental information, and satisfaction with information provision.

Design: We recruited a convenience sample of twelve parents of eleven children with OME at a single ENT department of a teaching hospital into a qualitative research study.