Childhood Fever Knowledge and Management: A Case of Mother with Children Under Five Years
Keywords:
fever, hyperthermia, hyperpyrexiaAbstract
Background: Paediatric fever is not a sickness itself, but rather a symptom that can be caused by various illnesses, including mild ailments like the common cold. Thus, parents should safely anticipate that generally healthy children will encounter numerous instances of fever during their upbringing. The strain on families is partly caused by the high occurrence of pediatric fever, and is also linked to heightened parental concern.
Objective: The objective of this study is to evaluate the extent of understanding and anxieties around childhood fever among mothers with children aged 5 years or younger at Al Zahraa Teaching Hospital in Wasit.
Methods: A cross-sectional study conducted at Al-Zahraa Teaching Hospital in Wasit during a period of 13 months included mothers who stayed with their children in the lobbies of the hospital. All eligible mothers were interviewed to fill a pre-constructed Arabic version questionnaire. Data were analysed using IBM SPSS Version 25 at a level of significance of 0.05.
Results: The mean age was 1.9 ± 0.5 years. Male children were 28 (56%). Mean age of mothers was 28.8± 6 years. Number of siblings ranged between 1 and 7. More than 60% were of urban residence. Almost 70% of mothers considered anti pyretic drugs as treatment for febrile illness, 80% of mothers did not know the effect and action of anti-biotic, 50% got their information from the surrounding environment and 48% from a doctor, 58% of mothers considered infection as the only cause of febrile illness,, 82% use only one type of anti-pyretic measure, 58% had a cut off temperature to consider that illness as febrile and only 16% know when to use anti-pyretic drug.
Conclusion: Most participated mothers had low level of knowledge and majority of them used anti pyretic for fever and measure temperature by hand.
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