A Study to assess the knowledge regarding Prevention of Diarrhea among mothers of under five children at selected Hospital of Bhubaneswar

Gopi Krishna Ranjan¹, Rahul Ranjan²

¹Nursing Tutor, Narayan Nursing College, Gopal Narayan Singh University,

Jamuhar, Rohtas, Bihar, India.

²Nursing Tutor, Department of Medical Surgical Nursing, Narayan Nursing College,

Gopal Narayan Singh University, Jamuhar, Rohtas, Bihar, India.

*Corresponding Author Email: rahulranjan1709@gmail.com

ABSTRACT:

Diarrhea is a common disease and one of the major determinants of childhood morbidity and mortalityin developing countries. In India it stand for third leading cause of death among children under five years of age. A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted to assess the knowledge and create awareness regarding prevention of diarrhea among mothers of under five children. Structure knowledge questionnaire was prepared regarding prevention of diarrhea. A total of 30 participants were included in the study according to inclusion criteria through simple random sampling. Collected data was analyzed using descriptive statistics including frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation. Results of the present study shows that most (60%) of participant’s age group were 18-25 years. About (40%) of the participants had moderately adequate knowledge, 36.7% participants had inadequate and in only 23.3% participants had adequate knowledge regarding prevention of diarrhea. Study concluded that mothers of under-five year children had not adequate knowledge about prevention of diarrhea. Therefor health educational programs is needed to trained the mothers and ensure the good practices to prevent diarrhea.

KEYWORDS: Diarrhea, Knowledge regarding Diarrhea, Prevention of Diarrhea, Under five children.

INTRODUCTION:

Diarrhea is a common disease and one of the major determinants of childhood morbidity and mortality. This disease is one of the main causes of death in children under five years of age in developing countries. Approximately 1.5 million children lost their life due to diarrhea related diseases every year, among thatAfrica and Asia accounted for 78% of these deaths^1,4. Diarrheal diseases arethe third most leading cause mortality in India, and is responsible for 16% of all deaths every year among children under five years of age.WHO estimates the 88% of all diarrheal diseases are due to unsafe water supply, inadequate sanitation & poor hygiene practices².

In developing countries diarrheal diseases are the most prevalent disease and cause of death in children among under five years-of-age and it causes serious economic problems for developing countries. Around 1.1 billion people world-wide lack access toproper water sources and 2.4 billion have no basic sanitations in developing countries. Diarrhea due to infection is widespread throughout the developing countries which most commonly caused by gastrointestinal infection which kills around 2.2 million peoples globally every year. It rarely occurs among the peoples who living in developed countries where sanitation is widely available access to safe water is high and personal and domestic hygiene is relatively good¹⁰.

The awareness of mothers about health, disease and preventive services is a barometer by which we can measure the progress of the family, the community and the country. Lack of awareness can lead to improper utilization of health services which are available in the society. A mother in the family occupies pivotal rolefor their children and their family and if she is educated can play significant role in health awareness and responsibilities⁶. Healthy practices adopted by the mother can raise the healthful living condition thereby lessens the morbidity and mortality of under five year children. There fore this study was planned to assess the knowledgeand create awareness, regarding prevention of diarrhea among mothers of under five children.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in Pradyumna Bal Memorial Hospital, Kalinga institute of Medical Sciences, Bhubaneswar, India. Ethical clearance was taken from the institutional ethical committee to conduct the study and informed consent obtained from the subjects. Study was conducted on mothers of under five children which present in the different units of Pediatric wards for their children. Tool was prepared to collected data and validated by experts which divided into two section, Section A includeddemographic characteristics and Section B included 20 structure knowledge questionnaire regarding prevention of diarrhea. Data was collected in June 2015 by probability i.e. simple random sampling technique by using lottery method. A total of 30 participants were included in the study according to inclusion criteria. After the data collection investigator given health education to the all participants about prevention of diarrhea. Collected data was analyzed using descriptive statistics including frequency, percentage, mean and standard deviation.

Inclusion criteria includes participant who was mother of under five children which

· Admitted in pediatrics ward

· Available at the time of data collection

· Able to read and understand Oriya or English.

Exclusion criteria includes participant who was mother of under five children which

· Not willing to participate in the study

· Absent during data collection

Scoring criteria of the tools for assessment of knowledge

· Adequate knowledge: ≥75%

· Moderately adequate knowledge: 51%-75%

· Inadequate knowledge:<50%

RESULTS:

Findings related to demographic characteristics of participants:

Result shows that most of the subjects were in the age group of 18-25 years i.e. 60%. Most of the participants (40%) were 10^th pass and 33.3% were 12^th pass and 56.7% of the participants belongs from nuclear family. In 36.7% of participant’s family income was less than 10,000 and in 26.7% of cases family income was more than 30,000 per month. For the occupation, majority (80%) of participants were housewife. Majority of participant (73.3%) were belongs from rural area, 50% of participants had one children and 33.3% participants responded their family is their source of knowledge regarding diarrhea.

Findings related to knowledge regarding prevention of diarrhea:

Among 30 participants, 07 had adequate knowledge, 12 had moderately adequate and 11 had inadequate knowledge. Among 40% of the participants had moderately adequate knowledge, in 36.7% inadequate and in 23.3% adequate knowledge regarding preventionof diarrhea among mothers of under five children. The mean knowledge score was 11. 86 with standard deviation of 3.84 (11.86 ±3.84) and the range score was 16.

Table 1, Frequency and percentage distribution of the participants according to demographic characteristics. n=30

Demographic Variables

Frequency (f)

Percentage (%)

Age in year

18-25

25-30

>30

60%

30%

10%

Educational status

No formal education

10th pass

12th pass

Graduate or more

16.7%

40%

33.3%

10%

Types of family

Nuclear

Joints

56.7%

43.3%

Family income per month

<10,000 rupees

10-20,000 rupees

20-30,000 rupees

>30,000 rupees

36.7%

20%

16.6%

26.7%

Occupation

Housewife

Farmer

Daily Pay role worker

Other

80%

10%

6.7%

3.3%

Place of Living

Rural

Urban

73.3%

26.7%

Number of children/s

One

Two

Three or more

50%

43.3%

6.7%

Source of knowledgeregarding diarrhea

Family

Relatives & Neighbors

Health care workers

Television/Internet

33.3%

30%

26.7%

10%

Figure 1. Cylinder diagram showing percentage distribution of participants according to knowledge regarding prevention of diarrhea among mothers of under five children.

Table 2, Frequency and percentage distribution of the participants according to correct response given to the structure questionnaire. n=30

Structure questionnaire	Correct response
Structure questionnaire	Frequency (f)	Percentage (%)
1. What do you mean by Diarrhea?	21	70%
2. Diarrhea is caused by	14	46.7%
3. Which of these is a common cause of diarrhea?	19	63.3%
4. What is the common way of diarrheal disease transmission?	17	56.7%
5. Transmission of diarrheal disease mainly carried from which sources?	22	73.3
6. What is the duration of diarrheal diseases?	16	53.3%
7. What are the signs and symptoms of Diarrhea?	21	70%
8. Besides watery stools, which of these symptoms also may occur during diarrhea?	21	70%
9. Signs of dehydration is/are	20	66.7%
10. Which of the following are signs of severe dehydration?	17	56.7%
11. The most common complication of diarrhea is	18	60%
12. Diarrhea is usually treated with	20	66.7%
13. If a child has diarrhea, when should you call the doctor?	19	63.3%
14. Which of these fluids is best to drink to prevent dehydration when you have diarrhea?	16	53.3%
15. Which of these foods is a good choice when you have diarrhea?	18	60%
16. How will we prevent diarrhea?	20	66.7%
17. If one does not have soap what other material can he use to wash his hands after defecation?	13	43.3%
18. ORS (oral Rehydration salt) is:	15	50%
19. How is ORS prepared?	14	46.7%
20. One packet of ORS packaged by UNICEF should be mixed in:	15	50%

DISCUSSION:

The present study shows thatmost (60%) of participant’s age group were 18-25 years and 80% of participants were housewife. 33.3% had got knowledge from their family regarding prevention of diarrhea and 50% of participants had one child. In other study conducted³on knowledge of mothers regarding management of diarrhea among under-five children, in Kashan, Iran and found that most (43.8%) of the mother’s age were between 25-30 years and (55.6%) mothers had one child. And for the sources of the knowledge among 43.7% mothersgot from educational programs among that (28.8%) of the mothers had a good, while the 46.5% had medium and 24.7% had low knowledge.

In present study, about (40%) of the participants had moderately adequate knowledge, 36.7% participants had inadequate and in only 23.3% participants had adequate knowledge regarding prevention of diarrhea. And the mean knowledge score was 11.86 with standard deviation of 3.84. In another study conducted by Amare, et al. (2014) on maternal knowledge and practice towards diarrhea management in under five children in Northwest Ethiopia and found that of the total mothers, (86.7%) had knowledge about diarrhea and (55.1%) had good knowledge about home fluid management, among that (69.4%) of the mothers were received knowledge about diarrhea from health professionals.

CONCLUSION:

The findings of present study showed that knowledge on prevention of diarrhea among mothers of under-five children was not adequate in most of the participants. Diarrhea is theleading cause of morbidity and mortalityamong under five year children and mothers play important role in prevention. Therefor health educational programs is needed to trained the mothers and ensure the good practices to prevent diarrhea.

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Received on 21.05.2020 Modified on 30.06.2020

Asian J. Nursing Education and Research. 2020; 10(4):445-448.

DOI: 10.5958/2349-2996.2020.00094.4