Childhood Diarrhea and its management- a community based study
estimating knowledge, attitude and practice of Saudi Mothers, Saudi
Arabia
Abstract
Aim To demonstrate the best home care of children with diarrhea in our
community by investigating certain knowledge deficiencies, specific
inappropriate attitudes, and particular improper practice toward
children diarrhea and its management, this study was conducted to
evaluate knowledge, attitude and practice of Saudi mothers towards
diarrhea in their children and its management at home. Methods Online
cross-sectional validated online survey targeting Saudi mothers who are
living in Saudi Arabia was used to collect data from the beginning of
March to the end of April 2019. Results A total of 1140 mothers (52.1%
of them are housewives) participated in the study. About of 40.3 % of
participating mothers believed that childhood diarrhea is major problem
in Saudi community; however, Almost 23% of the participants were unable
to identify any critical sign of sever diarrhea, and around 66% falsely
stated that diarrhea is caused by teething. Although of 62 % of our
participating mothers knew about the oral rehydration therapy (ORS),
only 23.5 % of them used it for their children. Conclusion Adequate
knowledge of mothers about the critical sings, causes, transmission,
prevention, and management of childhood diarrhea should be applied in
simple language to communicate the health-related information in clear
manner.