Aim. To
establish the degree of consciousness of the importance of hygiene among the
Romani population in the Sisak-Moslavina County and to examine whether there
are differences in children’s health care of non-Romani population considering
the number of hospitalized Romani children in general and especially regarding
respiratory diseases.
Methods. The
study was conducted on 100 parents of hospitalized children, 50 of them being
members of the Romani population and 50 being members of non-Romani population.
It was done by means of a questionnaire specially designed for this study. The categorical
data is represented by the absolute and relative frequencies, while the
numerical data is described with the median and the limits of the interquartile
span. Categorical variable differences were tested using Fisher’s exact test.
The normality of numerical variable distribution was tested using the Shapiro-Wilk
test. The differences in numerical variables between two independent groups were
tested using the Mann-Whitney U test.
Results. The
results show that due to respiratory diseases a significantly large number of
Romani children (43%) were hospitalized once in six months. Fewer children of
Romani research subjects who have indoor plumbing were hospitalized. Romani families
tend to visit a doctor when a child is injured or for a regular check-up rather
than to seek a doctor’s advice. In non-Romani families, children tend to shower
every day, have their own towel and better personal hygiene habits than
children of Romani families. The results clearly show hygiene habits differ
greatly between Romani and non-Romani families. Neglecting their children’s
personal hygiene habits in Romani families points to a problem of insufficient
education of the parents.
Conclusion.
The obtained results point to the importance of constant encouragement and
education of Romani family members, as well as the members of non-Romani families,
in order for them to realize the significance of hygiene and personal hygiene
habits.