Abstract:
Objective: To assess the knowledge about diarrhoea and its management at home among mothers of under five
children attending a tertiary care hospital.
Study Design: Descriptive study.
Place and Duration of study: Fauji Foundation Hospital, Rawalpindi, from Mar to Aug 2017.
Material and Methods: A convenient sample of 120 mothers of children admitted in hospital was taken after
applying selection criteria. After ethical approval by institutional ethical review committee and consent of
respondents, data was collected on a structured pretested questionnaire on variables of demographic information,
knowledge about diarrhoea, home management, preparation of homemade oral rehydration solution etc. Data
was analyzed by SPSS version 21. Descriptive and inferential statistics was applied. Frequencies and percentages
were computed,
Result: Study results showed that 62 (51.7%) of mothers belonged to 20-30 years of age, only 65 (54.2%) were
literate, 54 (45%) belonged to middle socioeconomic status and 76 (63%) had 4-6 family members. Respondents
who perceived themselves as knowledgeable were 90 (75%) and 76 (84%) of them knew about the term
“Diarrhoea” while 68(76%) considered themselves as knowledgeable regarding its home management while only
39 (58%) and 22 (32%) of them knew about correct method of preparation of oral rehydration solution (ORS) from
sachet and homemade ORS respectively. Healthcare workers 60 (65%) were the major source of their information.
Reliability of variables was found acceptable at 0.79 on cronbach alpha test. Statistically significant association
was found between knowledge of diarrohea and its home management, knowledge of home management and
number of children as Pearson Chi-square value and Linear by Linear association p-value was <0.05.
Conclusion: Majority of mothers had sufficient knowledge regarding diarrhea and its management at home with
oral rehydration fluids and the type of food to be given. They lacked knowledge regarding correct preparation of
oral rehydration solution by ORS Sachet or preparation by using ingredients easily available at home. Awareness
campaigns and education of mothers can improve their knowledge in this aspect.
