Understanding Minor Illness in Infants: Implications for Care, Parental Decision-Making, and Health Service Use

The Mother and Infant Research Unit is a group of researchers whose vision is to deliver world-leading, impactful research to improve the health and wellbeing of women, babies, children and their families, and to reduce health inequalities. We have a shared interests in working with individuals and groups who are often excluded from research to understand and improve their experiences of health and healthcare. 

We welcome proposals that focus on minor illness in infants. Minor illnesses such as mild fever, respiratory symptoms, or feeding difficulties account for a large proportion of unscheduled healthcare visits. Although typically self-limiting and clinically low risk, infants are a uniquely vulnerable groups, and even mild symptoms can prompt significant parental concern. This contributes to high healthcare use, overcrowded emergency departments, and unnecessary investigations. Understanding how minor illness is experienced, interpreted, and managed is therefore essential to improve care, support parents, reduce avoidable service use, and inform more effective community- and system-level responses.

Specific areas of interest include, but are not limited to:

• Impact of maternal/paternal anxiety on the utilisation of healthcare services for low-severity symptoms.
• Cultural differences in interpreting infant symptoms and how they influence care-seeking patterns.
• Digital health literacy and infant illness management, including how parents use online information and social media to assess their infants’ symptoms, and how it influences their decisions.

Diversity statement

Our research community thrives on the diversity of students and staff which helps to make the University of Dundee a UK university of choice for postgraduate research.  We welcome applications from all talented individuals and are committed to widening access to those who have the ability and potential to benefit from higher education.