Stigma, Perceptions, and Parental Responses to Children's Head Lice Infestation in Greece.
Michalis Linardakis, Helen Vretudaki, Stela-Marina Kostaki and 1 others
PMID 41952524WHAT IT FOUND
Greek parents feared peer mockery, school judgment, and shame from head lice.
Some linked it to hygiene or biology, but cultural prejudice was low. How often lice occurred was not closely tied to these concerns.
Key findings
01Parents' responses grouped into six themes: peer stigma, cultural prejudice, school-related concerns, internalized shame, hygiene beliefs, and institutional factors.
02Agreement was highest for acting immediately when lice were detected and lowest for culturally prejudiced statements.
03How often lice occurred was not closely tied to school concerns.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
The survey was online, anonymous, and self-selected, so parents more interested in the topic or with digital access may have been overrepresented. An exact response rate could not be calculated. Most respondents were female (89.7%), urban (82.9%), and from two-parent families (91.1%), so results may not reflect other family backgrounds. The questionnaire was newly developed and not previously validated. Hygiene beliefs and institutional factors had low internal consistency. Infestation frequency was self-reported and may have been underreported because of stigma. Parents were recruited through selected schools, and school-level clustering effects were not modeled. This was a cross-sectional attitude survey, not a trial of any intervention or a study of clinical outcomes.
Declared interests
The authors declared no conflicts of interest and reported nothing to report regarding funding.
The easy way to misread this
Do not conclude that stigma reduction or school education changes head lice outcomes. This was a survey of parents' attitudes, not a trial of any intervention.