Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Mothers on Acute Respiratory Infection in Children under Five Years in Saudi Arabia, 2017

Abstract

Background: management and prevention of acute respiratory infections (ARI) is a worldwide problem especially in developing countries. Mothers are the caregivers of their children and thus their knowledge could be used as preventive measure for the disease. Objectives: assessing the knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of Saudi mothers toward ARI in children less than five years old in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Methods: the study included 733 mothers admitted to a random sample of PHC from different districts of KSA. The mothers were interviewed and asked to fill up a predesigned questionnaire during the period from February 2017 to June 2017. The questionnaire comprised of 4 parts including the mothers' demographics and KAP. Results: the mean age of mothers was 41.3 years old and the duration of marriage was from 10-20 years in most of mothers (41.9%). The majority of participants had college degree (53.9%) and 44% of subjects were working mothers. Most of subjects had good knowledge about that ARI is a disease of both upper and lower respiratory infection, pneumonia as a complication of ARI, the overuse of antibiotic and bacterial resistance and cough being the most common symptom of ARI. Poor knowledge was related to the use of antibiotics and consulting a physician if children had ARI. The knowledge score of mothers was good in 46% of subjects and 54% have insufficient knowledge. The attitude and practice of mothers was poor among more than half of the participants.Conclusion: most of Saudi mothers had inadequate, knowledge, attitude and practice toward ARI. The better understanding and sufficient knowledge was significantly correlated with young ages, short duration of marriage and higher education.

Parental knowledge and common practices regarding acute respiratory infections in children admitted in a hospital in rural setting

“…This was in contrast with findings by other researchers. [1121] Knowledge of symptoms of ARI was very good among caregivers (98%), which was higher than other studies. [22] Use of self-medication was found (43.6%) in this study which is similar to other studies.…”

“…This was slightly higher than other studies. [11242526] 66.3% of parents showed a healthy practice of minimizing indoor air pollution. 89.1% parents agreed that they visit a physician whenever child presents with symptoms such as cough, fever, etc.…”

“…The irrational use of antibiotics by parents and excessive use of radiographic and laboratory investigations further helps in spread of ARIs. [11] In developing countries, there is paucity of data regarding knowledge and practices of parents regarding ARIs. Hence, the present study was undertaken to study the knowledge and practices of parents for ARIs.…”

Model package of Behavioral Change Communication regarding childhood pneumonia and its risk factors: a pre-post assessment

“…Age and knowledge/ perceptions relationship is varied. (28,54) Higher education is almost universally associated with better knowledge /perception, (28,54,55) hence promoted. (56) We observed that although knowledge was proportional to education, perception was not.…”

“…(27)(28) Knowledge about signs and symptoms among mothers varies from poor to adequate. (1,17,24,(30)(31)36,54) Despite affirming knowing pneumonia, only 24.4% women could describe pneumonia using closest word 'severe cold'. (29) More than 80% mothers in Peru know that chest in-drawing and rapid breathing are signs of pneumonia.…”