Knowledge, attitude and practices about acute respiratory infection among mothers of under 5 children in an urban area of Tamil Nadu

Abstract

Acute respiratory infection (ARI) is one of the major public health problems in developing countries and in India, ARI is considered as one of the major killer diseases and leading cause for morbidity and mortality in children below five years. Knowledge, attitude and practice of mothers play a major role in the decrease of morbidity in under 5 children. The objective is to evaluate the health-seeking behaviour of mothers and to assess knowledge, attitude and practices of mothers regarding ARI. Using pretested semi-structured proforma, a descriptive study on 204 mothers was done and information on knowledge of ARI, attitude and practice regarding consulting physician, antibiotic use were collected and results were analysed using SPSS 22. Questionnaire regarding knowledge preferred that 61.8% of mothers preferred private set up as a place of choice of treatment and the commonest aggravating factor was infection (36.8%), most common complication was Pneumonia (32.4%), and most mothers opted for the medical practitioner (86.3%) for treatment. Self-medication was seen to be practiced by (52.5%). The younger age, a short period of time since marriage, and higher educational level were found to be significantly correlated with the good knowledge, attitude and practice and this could be due to that younger women with a lower duration of marriage have more time as well as being aware of new media and internet. They would gain knowledge easily compared to older women.