Peruvian mothers' knowledge and recognition of pneumonia in children under 5 years of age

Gálvez, César Augusto; Modeste, Naomi N.; Lee, Jerry; Betancourt, Héctor; Wilkins, Robert L.

doi:10.1590/s1020-49892002000200006

Cited by 17 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 13 publications

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“…The seeming low awareness of pneumonia among the rural dwellers of Dangme West district is consistent with earlier findings of studies conducted in Eastern Uganda among mothers and traditional healers [22] but in contrast to the findings in Kenya [16], Pakistan [15], Peru [17] and Western Uganda [23], where participants had heard about the illness and were easily able to identify the signs and symptoms. It can therefore be posited that such problems of low awareness are community specific, and may be dependent on the linguistic interpretation of diseases and how they may be perceived within the communities.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

“…As they had more knowledge on the causes of pneumonia, they considered doing the opposite of the causative factor, as a form of treatment [17]. For instance, “ If cold temperature was indicated as one important cause of pneumonia, then making the child sweat or providing heat will bring health.” As a result, Peruvians explored practices like sauna, spa and thermo therapeutic methods as a ways of treating some ARIs.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…For example, Studies in Ghana and elsewhere have shown that mothers had knowledge to recognize symptoms suggestive of malaria [11–14]. Similarly, studies conducted on pneumonia in countries including Pakistan, Peru and Kenya showed that most caregivers were aware of and could easily recognize pneumonia signs and symptoms [15–17]. However, in Ghana, little has been documented about community awareness, knowledge, perceptions and management of childhood pneumonia particularly in the Dangme West district.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

See 2 more Smart Citations

Community perceptions and practices of treatment seeking for childhood pneumonia: a mixed methods study in a rural district, Ghana

et al. 2016

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BackgroundThe World Health Organization recommends community case management of malaria and pneumonia for reduction of under-five mortality in developing countries. Caregivers’ perception and understanding of the illness influences the care a sick child receives. Studies in Ghana and elsewhere have routinely shown adequate recognition of malaria by caregivers. Similarly, evidence from Asia and some African countries have shown adequate knowledge on pneumonia. However, in Ghana, little has been documented about community awareness, knowledge, perceptions and management of childhood pneumonia particularly in the Dangme West district. Therefore this formative study was conducted to determine community perceptions of pneumonia for the purpose of informing the design and implementation of context specific health communication strategies to promote early and appropriate care seeking behaviour for childhood pneumonia.MethodsA mixed method approach was adopted. Data were obtained from structured interviews (N = 501) and eight focus group discussions made up of 56 caregivers of under-fives and eight community Key Informants. Descriptive and inference statistics were used for the quantitative data and grounded theory to guide the analysis of the qualitative data.ResultsTwo-thirds of the respondents had never heard the name pneumonia. Most respondents did not know about the signs and symptoms of pneumonia. For the few who have heard about pneumonia, causes were largely attributed to coming into contact with cold temperature in various forms. Management practices mostly were self-treatment with home remedies and allopathic care.ConclusionThe low awareness and inadequate recognition of pneumonia implies that affected children may not receive prompt and appropriate treatment as their caregivers may misdiagnose the illness. Adequate measures need to be taken to create the needed awareness to improve care seeking behaviour.Electronic supplementary materialThe online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s12889-016-3513-z) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 88%

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Community perceptions and practices of treatment seeking for childhood pneumonia: a mixed methods study in a rural district, Ghana

et al. 2016

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“…Several of the included studies suggest that health education programmes can improve caregiver recognition of childhood illness and appropriate care seeking. A cross-sectional study in Peru [57] found that mothers who reported to have been exposed to a national pneumonia educational campaign on television were more likely to select rapid breathing and chest retraction as signs of pneumonia in a questionnaire. In addition, a before-and-after evaluation [58] of community information activities and a training of trainers for leaders of women groups in Nigeria found significant improvements in knowledge of the symptoms of malaria and its treatment, increased rates of appropriate care seeking for severely ill children, and reductions in rates of consultations with traditional healers for severely ill children (from 60% to 6.7% of cases).…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Recognition of and Care Seeking Behaviour for Childhood Illness in Developing Countries: A Systematic Review

et al. 2014

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BackgroundPneumonia, diarrhoea, and malaria are among the leading causes of death in children. These deaths are largely preventable if appropriate care is sought early. This review aimed to determine the percentage of caregivers in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) with a child less than 5 years who were able to recognise illness in their child and subsequently sought care from different types of healthcare providers.Methods and FindingsWe conducted a systematic literature review of studies that reported recognition of, and/or care seeking for episodes of diarrhoea, pneumonia or malaria in LMICs. The review is registered with PROSPERO (registration number: CRD42011001654). Ninety-one studies met the inclusion criteria. Eighteen studies reported data on caregiver recognition of disease and seventy-seven studies on care seeking. The median sensitivity of recognition of diarrhoea, malaria and pneumonia was low (36.0%, 37.4%, and 45.8%, respectively). A median of 73.0% of caregivers sought care outside the home. Care seeking from community health workers (median: 5.4% for diarrhoea, 4.2% for pneumonia, and 1.3% for malaria) and the use of oral rehydration therapy (median: 34%) was low.ConclusionsGiven the importance of this topic to child survival programmes there are few published studies. Recognition of diarrhoea, malaria and pneumonia by caregivers is generally poor and represents a key factor to address in attempts to improve health care utilisation. In addition, considering that oral rehydration therapy has been widely recommended for over forty years, its use remains disappointingly low. Similarly, the reported levels of care seeking from community health workers in the included studies are low even though global action plans to address these illnesses promote community case management. Giving greater priority to research on care seeking could provide crucial evidence to inform child mortality programmes.

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“…7 8 Previous studies from developing regions of the world where the burden of pneumonia is high have documented that mothers' knowledge of the common features of pneumonia is low. [9][10][11] As part of a programme of events during the year 2011 World Pneumonia Day, the Paediatric Association of Nigeria (PAN) undertook the present study to document mothers' knowledge about the common features, major risk factors and causes of childhood pneumonia. The findings of the study would guide the development of campaign resources for public enlightenment about community acquired childhood pneumonia.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Mothers and childhood pneumonia: What should the focus of public campaigns be?

Ekure¹,

Esezobor²,

Balogun³

et al. 2012

Nig. J. Paed.

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Background: Prompt administration of antibiotics to children with pneumonia significantly reduces the probability of death. However this requires early identification of such children in the community. In a country such as Nigeria with one of the highest pneumoniarelated deaths, what do mothers know about pneumonia, and what should be the content of public campaign messages? Methods: A structured questionnaire was administered to mothers attending paediatric clinics of Lagos University Teaching Hospital seeking their knowledge about the definition, causes, risk factors and symptoms of childhood pneumonia. Results: One hundred and seven (107) consecutive mothers participated in the study. The majority (97; 90.6%) had at least secondary education, were married (96; 89.7%) and professed to be either Christians or Muslims (105; 98.1%).Prior to the study, 16 (15%) had not heard about pneumonia. About half of the participants correctly identified fast/difficult breathing as suggestive of pneumonia. Threequarters reported exposure to cold as the cause of childhood pneumonia. Minimizing exposure to cold and wearing warm clothes were the two commonest reported ways of preventing pneumonia (75.8% and 49.5% of the mothers respectively); in contrast hand washing, exclusive breastfeeding and limiting exposure to sick persons with cough and catarrh were the least mentioned. The proportion of mothers who correctly identified fast/difficult breathing as suggestive of pneumonia was similar irrespective of educational status or source of pneumonia information. Conclusion: Mothers' knowledge of childhood pneumonia is low. Public campaigns on pneumonia should focus on raising awareness about germs as cause of pneumonia, immunization, hand washing and exclusive breastfeeding as potent preventive strategies and fast/difficult breathing as a feature of pneumonia.

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Peruvian mothers' knowledge and recognition of pneumonia in children under 5 years of age

Cited by 17 publications

References 13 publications

Community perceptions and practices of treatment seeking for childhood pneumonia: a mixed methods study in a rural district, Ghana

Community perceptions and practices of treatment seeking for childhood pneumonia: a mixed methods study in a rural district, Ghana

The Recognition of and Care Seeking Behaviour for Childhood Illness in Developing Countries: A Systematic Review

Mothers and childhood pneumonia: What should the focus of public campaigns be?

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