ABSTRACT
Objective: To assess awareness about the knowledge; attitude and behaviour of mothers about use of ORS
Study Design: Cross-sectional study
Place and Duration of Study: This study was conducted at the Pediatric Outpatient Department, Civil Hospital Bahawalpur from May 10, 2015 to July 25, 2015
Methods and Materials: This study was conducted on mothers who attended Pediatric Outpatient Department, Civil Hospital Bahawalpur with 2 months to 5 years old child having history of diarrhea at the time of visit of the hospital or within the last two weeks. The mothers were interviewed by the one of the researchers using a structured questionnaire about ORS including the demographic data
Results: There were 200 mothers included in this study. Their mean age +/- SD was 27.78 +/- 7.637 years. Among the studied mothers 18.5% were having at least secondary school certificate and 90% mothers were house wives. 4.5% mothers did not hear about ORS, 50.5% heard it from medical practitioners, 33.5% from some family member/ neighbours while 16.5% from media. ORS use within the last two weeks was in 44.5% cases of diarrhea. 49% mother gave opinion that it 'stops diarrhea', 29.5% 'does not know' while 21.5% gave opinion that it 'stops dehydration.' 38% mothers knew the correct technique for making ORS solution. 35% mother were in the opinion of giving ORS to the child by 'cup and spoon' in 70 [35%], 34% by cup and 31% by feeding bottles. There were only 34% mothers could prepare ORS correctly. 33% mothers described the correct amount of ORS solution to be given to the child while 41.5% mothers replied to continue giving ORS even if child developed vomiting
Conclusion: The awareness of mothers about the use of ORS is moderate. Further community based research is needed in this respect
ABSTRACT
Objective: To assess awareness about the knowledge, attitude and behaviour of mothers about the use of colostrum for the newborn feeding
Study Design: Observational / descriptive /cross-sectional study
Place and Duration of Study: This study was conducted at Pediatric Outpatient Department, Civil Hospital Bahawalpur from July 10, 2015 to August 8, 2015
Materials and Methods: This study was conducted on mothers who attended Pediatric Outpatient Department, Civil Hospital Bahawalpur for the medical checkup of their children less than one year of age. The mothers were interviewed by the one of the researchers using a structured questionnaire about colostrum including the demographic data
Results: There were 100 mothers included in this study. There were 4% mothers younger than 20 years, 63% in the age group 21-30 years, 20% age group 31-40 years while 3% were older than 40 years. 17% mothers were having at least matriculation, 59% were having education less than that while 34% were uneducated. 94% mothers were house wives. There were 79% mothers who had heard about colostrum; among which 51% heard from either family members or from friends, 21% from medical personnels, 7% from media while 21% never heard of it. There were only 25% mothers who believed that colostrum was the best first feed of newborn, while 61% mothers believed it is GHUTTI that was best. There were 22% mothers who believed that it was beneficial for the health, 13% were in the opinion that it is injurious for the health while 65% replied 'do not know'. There were 41% mothers who told colostrum as yellow and thick, 11% replied it was milk like. There were 32% mothers who believed that colostrum is sufficient for initial newborn feeding, 25% believed it is insufficient. There were only 19% mothers who believed that baby must be put on breast for feeding within half an hour
Conclusion: The awareness of mothers about the use colostrum is poor to moderate