Mothers’ Awareness about Poisoning Prevention among their Children under Five Years Old

Abstract

Background: Most childhood poisoning cases occur in the home as children less than five years old spend most of their time there. These cases are presumed to be preventable or have fewer complications through the removal of hazards or applying the basics of first aid measures by their mothers or caregivers. The Research design: a descriptive exploratory study was utilized. The study aimed to assess mothers' awareness about poisoning prevention among their children under 5 years. Setting: The study was conducted in the Maternal and Child Health Center of Toukh Dalaka village in Tala City at the Menoufia governorate. The sampling technique was purposive nonprobability sampling. 336 mothers were included in the study which started on January, 2021 and ended on April, 2021. The tool of data collection was an interview questionnaire sheet, which consists of 4 parts. 1 st part: Socio-demographic characteristics of the studied mothers and children. 2 nd part: mothers' knowledge about the poisoning of children under 5 years. 3 rd part: mothers' reported practices toward home environmental safety and poisoning preventive measures should be used for their children under 5 years. 4 th part: mothers' reported practices toward poisoning first aid for their children under 5 years. The results of this study illustrate that less than half of the studied mothers were between 25 and 33 years, the majority of them had at least middle education, about half of them were employees, the majority were married, more than half of them lived in extended families, about third of them had two children and more than third of them had a fair family income monthly. About fifth of the studied children were previously exposed to poisoning, as household, pesticides, medication and other causes. Less than two-thirds of the studied mothers had total complete correct answers about poisoning. More than two-thirds of the studied mothers did satisfactory total reported practices toward home environmental safety, poisoning prevention and poisoning first aid for their children under 5 years. The current study concluded that there is a statistically significant relation between mothers' age, educational level, occupation, family income monthly and their knowledge about poisoning. A positive correlation with a highly statistically significant relation was found between mothers' total knowledge about poisoning with their reported preventive and first-aid practices. A statistically significant relation between mothers' age, educational level, occupation, marital status, family income monthly and their reported practices toward poisoning first aid for their children under five years. This study recommended continuous, repetitive health education programmes and training courses for mothers who have children underfive years and attend primary health care settings regarding poisoning prevention, environmental safety measures and first-aid practices.

Acute Poisoning Among Children Admitted to Alexandria Poison Center, Egypt: Patterns and Predisposing Factors

“…In Ethiopia, Brazil, and Saudi Arabia, poisoning was more prevalent among male children, which might be explained by the nature of energetic and less obedient behaviors among boys, hence the increased likelihood of exposure to poisons [ 17 - 22 ].…”