• Elizabeth R Wolf, Jennifer O'Neil, James Pecsok, Rebecca S Etz, Douglas J Opel, Richard Wasserman, and Alex H Krist.
• Department of Pediatrics, Virginia Commonwealth University, Richmond, Virginia elizabeth.wolf@vcuhealth.org.
• Ann Fam Med. 2020 Jan 1; 18 (1): 30-34.

PurposeDespite the benefits of well-child care visits, up to one-half of these visits are missed. Little is known about why children miss them, so we undertook a qualitative study to elucidate these factors.MethodsWe interviewed 17 caregivers whose children had missed well-child visits and 6 clinicians, focusing on 3 areas: the value of well-child visits, barriers to attendance, and facilitators of attendance. Transcripts were analyzed with a grounded theory approach and thematic analysis.ResultsCaregivers and clinicians identified similar important aspects of well-child visits: immunizations, detection of disease, and monitoring of growth and development. Both groups identified similar barriers to attendance: transportation, difficulty taking time off from work, child care, and other social stressors.ConclusionsFurther work to explore how addressing social determinants of health might improve attendance of well-child visits is needed.© 2020 Annals of Family Medicine, Inc.

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