Table 3 Reasons given by children for refusing medications
From: Children’s perceptions about medicines: individual differences and taste
Taste/flavor, 84.9 % (73/86) | |
“Nasty”/“Nasty taste” (n = 32) | “Doesn’t taste good” |
“Yucky” (n = 4) | “Taste like fish” |
“Bitter” (n = 3) | “Don’t like grape” |
“Tastes horrible” (n = 2) | “Sour/salty taste” |
“Gross/tastes gross” (n = 2) | “Bitter cherry/ear wax taste” |
“Tastes ugh” (n = 2) | “Doesn’t taste like cranberries” |
“Bad taste” (n = 2) | “Only like blueberries” |
“Icky taste later” | “Fruit flavor, only bubble gum flavors” |
“Nasty after taste” | “Tastes nasty, only like bubble gum” |
“Tastes old” | “Nasty, doesn’t like cherry” |
“Tastes like poison” | “Tastes nasty/doesn’t like color or flavor” |
“Don’t like taste” | “Too hard” |
“They have vegetables inside and don’t taste good” | “Mom puts it in salty water” |
“Tastes like alcohol” | “Tastes like salt water” |
“Tastes like diet” | “Tasted horrible and scared to swallow” |
“Hated taste” | “Tastes too sour, old people like them” |
“Disgusting” | |
Problems with swallowing or choking, 8.1 % (7/86) | |
“Hard to swallow” (n = 2) | “Scared to choke” |
“Couldn’t swallow and choked on it” | “Have to drink water to swallow them” |
“Gag, can’t chew, hard to swallow” | “Afraid because little boy on TV choked from pills” |
Consequences of taking medicine, 2.3 % (2/86) | |
“Allergic” | “Makes me have headaches” |
Combination/other, 4.7 % (4/86) | |
“I don’t know” (n = 2) | “I don’t know what to do with them” |
“Medicine is for grownups” |