Assessment of Mothers’ Knowledge, Attitude, And Practice about Oral Rehydration Solution in treatment of diarrhea in Karbala.

Abstract

Background: Diarrheal diseases still one of the major causes of preventable death in developing countries particularly among children under five years. The WHO estimates that there are more than 700 million episodes of diarrhea yearly among the children under five years of age in developing countries. Increased obtainable ORS has significantly reduced diarrheal-related deaths in children under five.  Methods:  A cross sectional study was conducted among mothers attending Karbala   teaching hospital and two primary health care in the period    from 15th of January  till 15th of August 2016, the sample size included 400 mothers of children who were under five years of age. Mothers randomly selected, and data   collected using a designed questionnaire.   Results:    A total of 400 mothers were interviewed in the current study, aged 15 to 46 years with mean age of 30.21 ± 7.72 years. The ages of children ranged between 1 to 58 months with mean age of the youngest child was 22.2±15.22 months. Most mothers received the information about ORS from medical staff by (90.8%). Regarding knowledge, attitude, and practice of mothers, 89.7% had awareness and heard about ORS, 79.7% of mothers used ORS, and 78% of them knew how to prepare it correctly. The vast majority of mothers (98.7%) continue feeding during attack of diarrhea, (72.3%) give home available fluids.   Conclusion:  High percent of mothers had awareness about ORS and believe it is useful during attack of diarrhea. Most mothers had enough knowledge and practice about preparation of ORS. Majority of mothers had information about ORS and most of them received their information from medical staff.

Keywords: Knowledge, Attitude, Oral Rehydration Therapy (ORS).