Understanding and enhancing immune resilience among children in the Southern Philippines through parental perspectives: A qualitative case study

Abstract

Background: Children in rural communities face significant health challenges due to environmental hazards and limited access to healthcare. Understanding their immune resilience and parental perspectives is crucial for addressing health disparities in such contexts.

Objective: This research aimed to explore the immune resilience of children in Tugaya, Lanao del Sur, Philippines, and understand parental perspectives on fostering their children’s health in the face of environmental challenges.

Methods: A qualitative case study approach was used. Ten parents of children aged 5-10 from two barangays were selected through purposive sampling. Data were collected from 15 January 2024 to 15 February 2024 through semi-structured interviews. Data were analyzed using a thematic analysis.

Results: Three main themes were generated: 1) Parental guardianship of children’s immune resilience, 2) Parental insights on fostering immune resilience in children, and 3) Parental perception and action in nurturing children’s immune resilience. These themes highlight parental roles in nurturing health, understanding immune resilience, prioritizing children’s well-being, maintaining cleanliness, providing balanced diets, and promoting proactive and informed parenting practices.

Conclusion: It is evident that parents play a crucial role in fostering immune resilience among children by adopting various strategies. Understanding these perspectives can inform public health policies and community interventions to improve children’s health in similar rural contexts. This insight has significant implications for healthcare management and policy, suggesting the need for targeted support and interventions to empower parents in rural communities to enhance their children’s immune resilience.

---

Total views 154 [Abstract: 108 | PDF: 46 ]

Declaration of Conflicting Interest

The authors declared no conflict of interest in this study.

Funding

None.

Acknowledgment

The authors would like to express their gratitude to all participants for their valuable contributions to this study.

Authors’ Contributions

Arafat S. H. Noor, as the main researcher, played a pivotal role in conceptualizing and gathering data for the research. His contributions likely involved designing the research framework, formulating research questions, and overseeing data collection methods. Saima S. Hadji Malic, as the main researcher, significantly contributed to the research by providing expertise in healthcare management and facilitating data collection efforts. Ashley A. Bangcola contributed to the research by providing expertise in data analysis and being involved in applying methods to analyze the gathered data. Additionally, she assisted in interpreting the findings and drawing meaningful conclusions from the data analysis. Monalinda M. Macawadib played a significant role in the research by assisting in the analysis of the gathered data and contributed to ensuring the accuracy and reliability of the data analysis process. Norhanie A. Ali contributed to the research by providing valuable support in analyzing the gathered data and being involved in conducting data analysis, qualitative coding, or other data processing methods. Alibasher D. Macalnas played an integral role in the research by assisting in the analysis of the gathered data and contributed to ensuring the robustness and reliability of the data analysis process. All authors are responsible for each step of the study and approve the final version to be published.

Data Availability Statement

The datasets analyzed during the current study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.

Declaration of the Use of AI in Scientific Writing

We, the authors, hereby disclose the utilization of ChatGPT (https://chat.openai.com/) to enhance the tone and style of our manuscript. In March 2024, we employed ChatGPT to proofread our work comprehensively. Specifically, we instructed the AI to identify typos, grammatical errors, passive voice constructions, repeated phrases, and unnecessary adverbs within our manuscript. The resulting output was subsequently refined to align more closely with our intended writing style.

References

Read more

Ahuja, S. K., Manoharan, M. S., Lee, G. C., McKinnon, L. R., Meunier, J. A., Steri, M., Harper, N., Fiorillo, E., Smith, A. M., Restrepo, M. I., Branum, A. P., Bottomley, M. J., Orrù, V., Jimenez, F., Carrillo, A., Pandranki, L., Winter, C. A., Winter, L. A., Gaitan, A. A., . . . South Texas Veterans Health Care System, C.-t. (2023). Immune resilience despite inflammatory stress promotes longevity and favorable health outcomes including resistance to infection. Nature Communications, 14(1), 3286. https://doi.org/10.1038/s41467-023-38238-6

Casas, M. (2022, 2022). Immunotoxic chemicals, childhood infections, and long-term health effects 34th Annual Conference of the International Society of Environmental Epidemiology, Megaron Athens. https://doi.org/10.1289/isee.2022.O-SY-042

Creswell, J. W. (2014). Research design: Qualitative, quantitative, and mixed methods approaches (4th ed.). California: SAGE Publications.

Creswell, J. W., & Poth, C. N. (2016). Qualitative inquiry and research design: Choosing among five approaches (4th ed.). Los Angeles: Sage Publications.

Gombart, A. F., Pierre, A., & Maggini, S. (2020). A review of micronutrients and the immune system–working in harmony to reduce the risk of infection. Nutrients, 12(1), 236. https://doi.org/10.3390/nu12010236

Leung, M.-W., O’Donoghue, M., & Suen, L. K.-P. (2023). Personal and household hygiene measures for preventing upper respiratory tract infections among children: A cross-sectional survey of parental knowledge, attitudes, and practices. International Journal of Environmental Research and Public Health, 20(1), 229. https://doi.org/10.3390/ijerph20010229

LoBue, V., Bonawitz, E., Leotti, L., & Fefferman, N. (2023). How children develop healthy behavioral choices to promote illness prevention. Current Directions in Psychological Science, 32(1), 3-9. https://doi.org/10.1177/09637214221141847

Mutius, V., Schierl, Riedler, Ehlermann, Maisch, Waser, & Nowak. (2000). Exposure to endotoxin or other bacterial components might protect against the development of atopy. Clinical & Experimental Allergy, 30(9), 1230-1234. https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2222.2000.00959.x

Patrick, M. E., Wightman, P., Schoeni, R. F., & Schulenberg, J. E. (2012). Socioeconomic status and substance use among young adults: A comparison across constructs and drugs. Journal of Studies on Alcohol and Drugs, 73(5), 772-782. https://doi.org/10.15288/jsad.2012.73.772

Poczai, P., & Karvalics, L. Z. (2022). The little-known history of cleanliness and the forgotten pioneers of handwashing. Frontiers in Public Health, 10, 979464. https://doi.org/10.3389/fpubh.2022.979464

Rezk, S. M. (2023). Nutrition as the cornerstone of immunity. Archives of Food and Nutritional Science, 7(1), 30-31. https://doi.org/10.29328/journal.afns.1001046

Riedler, J., Braun-Fahrländer, C., Eder, W., Schreuer, M., Waser, M., Maisch, S., Carr, D., Schierl, R., Nowak, D., & Von Mutius, E. (2001). Exposure to farming in early life and development of asthma and allergy: A cross-sectional survey. The Lancet, 358(9288), 1129-1133. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(01)06252-3

Rosenstock, I. M., Strecher, V. J., & Becker, M. H. (1988). Social Learning Theory and the Health Belief Model. Health Education Quarterly, 15(2), 175-183. https://doi.org/10.1177/109019818801500203

Shimpi, P., Pillewan, S., & Nikam, V. S. (2023). Diseases and disorders associated with immune system. In V. S. Nikam, S. P. Sawarkar, G. B. Mahajan, & S. G. Jagtap (Eds.), Natural immunomodulators: Promising therapy for disease management (pp. 41-74). https://doi.org/10.2174/9789815123258123010005

Strachan, D. P. (2000). Family size, infection and atopy: The first decade of the ’hygiene hypothesis’. Thorax, 55(Suppl 1), S2-S10. https://doi.org/10.1136%2Fthorax.55.suppl_1.s2

Yuniwati, C., & Fithriany. (2022). Implementation of clean and healthy lifestyle behavior with children’s nutritional status during Covid-19 pandemic. Science Midwifery, 10(4), 2843-2850. https://doi.org/10.35335/midwifery.v10i4.726

---

Readers are able to give us their valuable feedbacks here. The comments will be reviewed by the editors and then published here. Important Note: The "Comments" related to the Galley Proof PDF must NOT be submitted via this form. Authors should submit their comments on their galley proofs only via system