Obstacles to Appointment Keeping in a Child Behavior Management Clinic

This study investigated obstacles to appointment keeping reported by parents who were scheduled for either an initial evaluation (n=31) or a subsequent parent training (n=69) session in an outpatient child behavior management clinic. Following their first appointment-keeping failure, parents in the two groups participated in a brief, semistructured phone interview in which appointment-keeping obstacles were solicited. Although some differences between the two groups of parents were noted, both groups reported obstacles involving poor health status of the parent or child, inadequate transportation, competing home and work responsibilities, and sudden crises. The implications of these findings for the development of behavioral interventions designed to boost attendance compliance are discussed.