INTRODUCTION:

Children have begun to be recognized not only for who they are today but for their future roles in creating families, powering the workforce and making the democracy work. The nation must provide every advantage and opportunities possible that the children need to fulfil their potential.¹Thecommon problems seen in children are health problems like cold, constipation, cough, diarrhoea, diaper rash, fever, jaundice, vomiting, worm infestation and behavioural problems like anger, aggression, stealing, sleep walking, TV viewing, night awakening, night terrors.²A cross sectional study was conducted on behavioral problems of secondary school children and related scio-demographic factors.

In this study the prevalence of abnormal behavioral according to self-rated SDQ was found to be 1.6% while prevalence of border line abnormal behavior was 11.2% and majority 87.2% of study subjects were normal having no behavioral problem.³

STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM:

A study on knowledge of mothers regarding behavioural problems in children in selected hospital at Mangaluru.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:

1. To assess the knowledge of mother’s regarding behavioural problems in children.

2. To find the association between mother’s knowledge regarding behavioural problems in children and selected baseline variables.

HYPOTHESIS:

The Hypothesis will be tested at 0.05 level of significance.

H1: There will be significant association between knowledge of mothers regarding behavioural problems in children with selected baseline variables.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:

A descriptive survey design is chosen for the present study to find out the mothers knowledge on behavioural problems in children. The study was conducted at paediatrics wards and outpatient department at Father Muller Medical College hospital which is a multi-speciality hospital with 1250bed strength. In this study the population consisted of mothers who have under-five children during the data collection period in Father Muller Medical College Hospital. In the present study sample comprised of 153 under-five children’s mothers. In this study purposive sampling has been done to select the sample.

Selection and development of the tool:

The tool was prepared on the basis of the objectives of the study. The following steps were used for the development of the tool:

· Review of relevant literature

· Personal consultation and discussion with guide, nursing experts and paediatricians.

· Discussion with colleagues.

· Investigator’s observation and experience in clinical area.

RESULTS:

Section I: Description of baseline variables of the mother.

Section II: Assessment of mother’s knowledge regarding behavioural problems in children.

Section III: Association between the mother’s knowledge regarding behavioural problems and selected baseline variables.

Table 1: Frequency and percentage distribution of subjects according to baseline characteristics. N=153

Sl. No.

Variables

Frequency

Percentage (%)

Age (in years)

a. 20-30

b. 31-40

64.1

35.9

Education

a. Primary

b. Secondary

c. Pre-university

d. Diploma

e. Graduate

f. Post graduate

12.4

45.1

20.9

3.3

17.0

1.3

Occupation

a. Home maker

b. Unskilled worker

c. Semiskilled worker

d. Private worker

121

79.1

3.9

13.1

3.9

Number of children

a. One

b. Two

c. Three

d. Four and above

39.2

41.2

16.3

3.3

Previous information aboutbehavioural problem in children

a. Yes

b. No

153

100

The Table 1 shows that majority of the subjects (64.1%) belong to the age group of 20-30 years among the rest, (35.9%) were between the age group of 31-40 years, half of the subjects (45.1%) had completed secondary education, and rest 20.9% pre-university, 17% graduate, 12.4% primary, 3.3% received diploma, 1.3% were post graduates, majority of the women were (79.1%) homemakers, 13.1% were semiskilled workers, 3.9% were unskilled workers and 3.9% were private workers, half of the subjects (41.2%) had two children, 39.2% had one child, 16.3% had three children and 3.3% had four and above children, majority of subjects were not having previous information regarding behavioural problem in children (100%).

Table 2: Frequency and percentage distribution of subjects according to the grading of knowledge score. N=153

Knowledge Score	Grading	Range of Percentage	Frequency (f)	Percentage %
0-5	Poor	<40%	40	26.1
6-10	Average	41-74%	96	62.7
11-15	Good	>75%	17	11.1

The data in Table 2 depicts the most of the subjects 62.7% had average, 26.1% had poor and 11.1% had good knowledge on behavioural problems in children.

Table 3: Mean, percentage mean score and standard deviation of anothers knowledge on behavioural problems in children. N=153

Variable

Max

Score

Mean

Standard

Deviation

Mean

Level of

Knowledge

Mothers knowledge behavioural problems in children

7.37

2.82

49.13

Average

Table 3 reveals that mean percentage of mothers’ knowledge regarding behavioural problem in children is 49.13%, which in turn shows that they have average level of knowledge regarding behavioural problem in children.

Table 4: Area-wise distribution of mean, standard deviation, and mean percentage of knowledge score. N=153

Areas	Area-wise Max Score	Mean	Standard Deviation	Mean %
Basics of behavioural problems	7	3.34	1.55	47.71
Types of behavioural problems	4	1.66	1.14	41.5
Management of behavioural problems	4	2.36	1.01	59

The data represented in the Table 4 shows that the mean percentage of knowledge in the area management of behavioural problems (59%) was good, the mean percentage of knowledge in the area basic of behavioural problem (47.71%) and types of behavioural problems (41.5%) was average.

Table 5: Association between the mothers knowledge regarding behavioural problems in children and selected baseline variables. N=153

Sl. No.

Variables

< Median

≥ Median

x²test

P value