Parental knowledge, attitudes and beliefs regarding fever in children: an interview study

Kelly, Maria; Sahm, Laura J.; Shiely, Frances; O’Sullivan, Ronan; McGillicuddy, Aoife; McCarthy, Suzanne

doi:10.1186/s12889-016-3224-5

Cited by 41 publications

(77 citation statements)

References 53 publications

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“…7 There is a need for educating the parents about the physiological nature of fever, antipyretic dosing, home remedial measures and to withhold the use of antibiotics in early fever episodes as also expressed with concern in other studies. 18,19 There is a need to provide information via counselling, media campaigns, so as to effectively reduce the parental anxiety regarding fever, desire to antibiotic use where it may not be justified. 20,21 The role of media in playing a pivotal role in achieving these goals cannot be emphasized more.…”

Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Knowledge, attitude and practice of fever and febrile illness among parents of under five children

Mallick¹,

Kumar²,

Bangari³

et al. 2019

Int J Contemp Pediatr

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Background: Fever in children is the commonest cause for outpatient and inpatient admissions in the health care setup. Though most fever episodes are benign with self-limiting course, it is often a reason for anxiety and concerning for parents. The aim of the study was to assess the parental knowledge, attitude and practice regarding fever in children under five years of age.Methods: A cross-sectional question based survey, conducted in the pediatric department of a peripheral hospital in Pune, Maharashtra from parents of under five children, presenting for any consultation from July 2018 to December 2018.Results: There were 636 respondents who completed the study. 38.1% were males. Mean age of responders was 26.85 years (SD 5.12 Range 18 to 37 years). Most of the population were educated lot. 55.5% responders defined fever correctly. There was a huge gap in the parent’s knowledge attitude and practice in fever and it’s management. Lack of information and fear of any untoward incident occurring due to fever were the reason for parental anxiety, frequent medication & combination antipyretic use, and pressure on part of health professionals to increase antibiotic prescriptions.Conclusions: Lack of parental knowledge of fever and fever management in younger children is of concern in the community in spite of improvement in the educational level of parents. There is a utmost need to spread awareness in the community about the benign and the self-limiting nature of most febrile illnesses.

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Section: Resultsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Knowledge, attitude and practice of fever and febrile illness among parents of under five children

Mallick¹,

Kumar²,

Bangari³

et al. 2019

Int J Contemp Pediatr

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“…As one of the most accessible healthcare providers with convenient locations, long opening hours, no appointment necessary and free consultation, pharmacists are an ideal option for offering guidance. Previous research has shown that parents value pharmacists as providers of medical information [52]. Published research has demonstrated that non-pharmacist staff also have a large role to play when providing consultations for non-prescription medications, however pharmacists tended to perform better than non-pharmacist staff in these consultations [53].…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 98%

Drivers for inappropriate fever management in children: a systematic review

et al. 2016

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Background Fever is one of the most common childhood symptoms and accounts for numerous consultations with healthcare practitioners. It causes much anxiety amongst parents as many struggle with managing a feverish child and find it difficult to assess fever severity. Over- and under-dosing of antipyretics has been reported. Aim of the review The aim of this review was to synthesise qualitative and quantitative evidence on the knowledge, attitudes and beliefs of parents regarding fever and febrile illness in children. Method A systematic search was conducted in ten bibliographic databases from database inception to June 2014. Citation lists of studies and consultation with experts were used as secondary sources to identify further relevant studies. Titles and abstracts were screened for inclusion according to pre-defined inclusion and exclusion criteria. Quantitative studies using a questionnaire were analysed using narrative synthesis. Qualitative studies with a semi-structured interview or focus group methodology were analysed thematically. Results Of the 1565 studies which were screened for inclusion in the review, the final review comprised of 14 studies (three qualitative and 11 quantitative). Three categories emerged from the narrative synthesis of quantitative studies: (i) parental practices; (ii) knowledge; (iii) expectations and information seeking. A further three analytical themes emerged from the qualitative studies: (i) control; (ii) impact on family; (iii) experiences. Conclusion Our review identifies the multifaceted nature of the factors which impact on how parents manage fever and febrile illness in children. A coherent approach to the management of fever and febrile illness needs to be implemented so a consistent message is communicated to parents. Healthcare professionals including pharmacists regularly advise parents on fever management. Information given to parents needs to be timely, consistent and accurate so that inappropriate fever management is reduced or eliminated. This review is a necessary foundation for further research in this area.

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“…6 As a result, parents get worried when their children experience an episode of fever. 7 Caretakers' apprehension about fever arises from concerns over the cause of fever, risk of hospitalization, and occurrence of potential harmful effects of fever in their children. 8 Brain damage, febrile convulsions, and death are among the frequently reported harmful effects of fever in children.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Perceptions of caretakers with different socioeconomic status about the harmful outcomes of fever in under-five children in Dodoma region, central Tanzania: A cross-sectional study

Kassile

Mmbando

Lokina

et al. 2018

Alexandria Journal of Medicine

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a b s t r a c tBackground: Socioeconomic status can affect health in childhood through many different pathways. Evidence on how households differ with regard to socioeconomic status and the degree to which this difference is associated with investment in child health is essential to the design of appropriate intervention strategies. Aim: This study examines the impact of caretakers' socio-economic characteristics on perceptions about the harmful outcomes of fever among under-five children.Material and methods: The study used a three-stage cluster sample of households with under-five children in Dodoma region, central Tanzania. Multilevel modelling approach was used to model the relationship between the outcome measure and caretakers' socioeconomic characteristics while controlling for other variables. Results: A total of 329 under-five children with fever were studied of which 74.8% were perceived by their caretakers to have some chances for harmful effects of fever to occur when they experienced fever. Secondary school education or above of caretakers was significantly associated with decreased beliefs about the occurrence of harmful effects of fever. Conclusion: Many caretakers are concerned about the occurrence of harmful effects of fever for their under-five children. Study findings suggest that promoting enrolment in secondary education or above and participation in the labour market particularly in non-farm activities of women would be valuable to the health of under-five children in central Tanzania. Ó 2017 Alexandria University Faculty of Medicine. Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. This is an open access article under the CC BY-NC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/).

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Parental knowledge, attitudes and beliefs regarding fever in children: an interview study

Cited by 41 publications

References 53 publications

Knowledge, attitude and practice of fever and febrile illness among parents of under five children

Knowledge, attitude and practice of fever and febrile illness among parents of under five children

Drivers for inappropriate fever management in children: a systematic review

Perceptions of caretakers with different socioeconomic status about the harmful outcomes of fever in under-five children in Dodoma region, central Tanzania: A cross-sectional study

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