A Descriptive Study to Assess the Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice of Mothers of Children (0–5 years) about Prevention and Management of Diarrhoea in a Selected Urban Slum Area of Delhi

Pravin Gupta; Sumity Arora; Thressiamma .

Abstract

Introduction: Children are the future of the nation. Their healthy development is an investment innational development and productivity. Mothers are important persons in children’s lives. Objectives:The study was aimed to access the knowledge, attitude, and practice of mothers of children (0–5years) about prevention and management of diarrhoea, to relate the knowledge of mothers of children(0–5 years) with the attitude and practice about prevention and management of diarrhoea, toassociate the knowledge, attitude and practice of mothers of children (0–5 years) about preventionand management of diarrhoea with the socio-demographic variables. Methods: It was descriptivecorrelational research. A structured knowledge questionnaire, attitude scale, and checklist were used.Tool 1 had 3 parts. Part A: Socio-demographic variables; and Part B: Structured knowledgequestionnaire consisted of 15 knowledge items. Tool 2: Attitude scale consisted of 12 items on 5-pointLikert scale, practice label checklist consisted of 13 items. 200 mothers of children (0–5 years) of agewere selected by a convenient sampling technique. Data was analyzed using descriptive andinferential statistics. Results: The results showed that 80% of the mothers of children had averageknowledge level, 96% of them had favorable attitude, and 76% of them had good practice towardsprevention and management of diarrhoea. The findings of this study revealed that there was asignificant correlation between knowledge and attitude, and also a correlation between knowledgeand practice. There was a significant association between knowledge, attitude, practice scores, andselected demographic variables such as education of mother, occupation of mother, family income,and type of family. On the basis of the results, the guidelines were prepared, validated with experts,and disseminated to the mothers of the children (0–5 years) selected in an urban community.Conclusion: The study concluded that mothers are the first teacher and guides for children. After theinterview, every mother was curious to know about the prevention and management of diarrhoea somore attention needs to be given to increase theknowledge to develop a positive attitude and toimprove the practice about prevention andmanagement of diarrhoea.