Assess the knowledge Regarding
Prevention of Selected Infections among Mothers of Infants Admitted in KLE’s Dr.
Prabhakar Kore Charitable Hospital Belgaum, with a View to Develop Health Education
Module
Mr. Jagadeesh G Hubballi1 ,
Honey Rose Thomas2, Prof. Sumitra L.A3
1Lecturer, K.L.E. University’s, Institute
of Nursing Sciences, Belgaum, Karnataka,
2Staff Nurse, Anjaman United Arab
Emirates.
3Professor & HOD, Department of Child
Health Nursing,
K.L.E. University’s Institute of Nursing
Sciences, Belgaum, Karnataka
*Corresponding
Author Email: jagadeeshhubballi@gmail.com
ABSTRACT:
Assess the knowledge on prevention of
selected infections (common cold, allergic Rhinitis, sinusitis, diarrhea,
scabies, and eye infections.) among mothers of infants.
The objectives of the study were to the
existing knowledge regarding prevention of selected infections among mothers of
infants. To find the association between pre test knowledge scores regarding
prevention of selected infections among mothers of infants with their
demographic variables.
The study was conducted using non
probability purposive sampling research design. The study was confined to 40
mothers of infants. Descriptive research design was selected to assess the
knowledge of mothers of infant on prevention of selected infections. Data
collection was done through structured knowledge questionnaire. Data obtained
were tabulated and analyzed in terms of objectives of the study using descriptive
and inferential statistics. Findings revealed that overall mean knowledge score
in the pretest is 29.29% and there was significant association between existing
pre test knowledge scores of mothers of infants with their socio-demographic
variables such as age the mother, age of the infant, gender of infant, total
number of children, educational status of mother, occupation of mother, family
income per month and previous source of information.
KEY WORDS: Knowledge, Selected infections.
INTRODUCTION:
The child is the most precious possession
of mankind, most loved and perfect in its innocent. The wealth of the nation is
its healthy population.
Today’s children are tomorrow citizen.
Children constitute the foundation of a nation, healthy child evolve to
become healthy adults and effectively participate in national developmental
programmes.1Children constitute more than 40% of our population.
Child health is the corner stone of national progress and the country which
neglects the child, its future progress will be affected. The age group of 1-3
years of age is an important period of life as growth and development is rapid.
The present concept of health care is a prevention of illness and promotion of
health, in their living condition. The role of physicians and nurses has
changed dramatically during the decades in caring of children. The health of
children has historically been of vital importance to all societies because
children are the future of mankind.2
Age from 0-12 months of life is known as
infancy period.3 The future development of our infants depends on
their enjoying good health today. A house is an exciting place for infants and
small children, love to explore but aren’t aware of the potential health
hazards. Life can’t be risk free, but most house hold infections can be
prevented by positive awareness about the care of infants.3Deficiencies
of the immune system place the infants at risk for infection. Other conditions
that decrease resistance are malnutrition, anemia, fatigue, and chilling of the
body, even if the care givers smoke also increases the likelihood of infection.3
The infants under age three months have a
lower infection rate, presumably because of the protective function of maternal
antibodies. The infection rate increases from age three to six months this is
the time between the disappearance of maternal antibodies and the infant’s own
antibody production.3 In developing countries, there are valid
factors, which affect the health of infants. Adopting appropriate preventive
measures and raising the level of knowledge of people, mainly mother. Lack of
knowledge and awareness about prevention of infections in infants, which are
influenced by illiteracy, low social class, psychological stress and unsafe
environmental sanitation and decreased knowledge of mothers regarding infants
care practices.4 In India diarrhoeal disease is a major health
problem among children under the age of 5 years. During 2005 about 1.07 million
cases of acute diarrhoea were reported in India with 2040 deaths. The national
Diarrheal disease control programme has made a significant contribution in
averting death among children less than 5 years of age. Much attention has been
given to acute diarrhoea and its management over the last decade, which is
dominated by advances in oral dehydration techniques.4
Most of the ten leading causes of death
during infancy continue to occur during the prenatal period. The first four
causes- congenital anomalies, sudden infant death syndrome, disorders relating
to short gestation and unspecified LBW, and respiratory distress syndrome-
accounted for just over half (54%) of all deaths of infants under one year 2 of
age in 1999. The next six causes accounted for only 15% of all infants’ deaths,
Wong (2000). Most of the minor infections in the infancy are unavoidable but
major and serious infections can be prevented by adults caring for their
children. Mothers play a major role in this process; hence the knowledge and
practices of mother regarding prevention of common infections among infants
should be improved by creating awareness and adequate by teaching programme.5
NEED
FOR THE STUDY:
World wide statistics each year 30 million
children are born in India. Around 15% of them do not survive up to 1 years of
age. India contributes to 25% of over 4.6 million infants deaths occurring
world wide every year. Nearly half of the infants’ deaths occur in neonatal
period. The mortality rates for children below 1 year age are increasing.
At national level the mortality rate was estimated as 16.7 per 1000
infants and rate varies from 1.7 in Kerala to 28.7 in Madhya Pradesh. The rate
for rural areas is about 21.2 and for urban areas 11.1. The mortality rate in
female children is higher than the male children. In India about 50% of
childhood deaths are attributed to common infection. About 46% of children
aged 1year are stunted in their growth due to common infection and
malnutrition.6
An acute respiratory infection represents
one of the main health problems in infants in India. In the regions of America,
ARI are major cause of health in the age group between 6 month – 1 year.
Although the spread of ARI is worldwide, its impact is quite difference in
industrialized countries than in developing one, where as 1-5 % of deaths in
the infants of age in industrialized countries is due to ARI, the disease
causes 10 to 30 % deaths in developing countries. A study was
conducted in Australia related to the risk of death from respiratory infection
during the infancy period. It is estimated that annually respiratory infection
contributes 850000 - 1.3 million infants deaths which contributes 10% of global
child mortality.7
The infants with congenital or acquired
immunodeficiency disorders such as AIDS, infants in a debilitated condition,
those receiving immunosuppressive therapy, and those with a generalized
malignancy such as leukemia or lymphoma are at risk for developing infections.
Respiratory synstial virus is a most common presenting symptoms and it is
an important factor of infants’ mortality rate in developed and developing
countries. It has been estimated that 35 million cases and more than half a
million deaths due to this virus occur through out the developing world
annually. Retrospective study was taken during 2000 to 2005, 85 children were
admitted to the pediatric wards, Bhopal campus with a clinical diagnosis of
cold that ages ranging from two months to one year. That 3 patients (5.5%)
were less than 6 months old it consisted of 27 Malay infants (50%),16 chines
(30%), 9 Indians (1%) and 2 Orang aslis.8
Acute diarrhoea is rivaled in importance
only by respiratory infection, as a cause of morbidity on a worldwide scale.
When the WHO initiated the diarrhoeal disease control programme in 1980,
approximately 4.6 million children were dying each year due to dehydration
caused by diarrhoea. Though the mortality due to diarrhoea have been reduced
to 1.6 million during year 2002, according to recent reports oral rehydration
therapy may now be preventing about 3 million dehydration death per year. The
WHO estimates for the year 2000 about diarrhoea mortality and burden is
disease. According to WHO estimates for the year 2000, there were about 1,798
million deaths due to diarrhea. The early reorganization and prompt
treatment is usually made and treatment is commenced in home itself. Many
children were presenting symptoms of cough, cold, fever and acute diarrhoea
which do not require treatment with antibiotics. Antibiotics are not
recommended for cough and cold because majority of cases are caused by viruses
and antibiotics are effective, the increase resistant strains and cause side
effects while proving no clinical benefit and symptomatic treatment and care at
home generally enough for such cases. The mothers must be advised on how to
take care of the child at home.9
So it is evident that common infections in
infants are very common in rural as well as urban areas. Based on the review of
literature and personal experience of the investigator during the clinical
posting was found that many infants were affected with common infection and
there was no awareness of prevention among mothers of infants. Thus the
investigator would like to assess on selected infection among mothers.10
STATEMENT OF PROBLEM:
“A study to assess the knowledge on
prevention of selected infections among mothers of infants in K.L.E U’s
Prabhakar Kore Charitable Hospital and MRC Belgaum with a view to develop
health education module.”
OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:
1) To assess the existing knowledge
regarding prevention of selected infections among mothers of infants.
2) To find the association between
knowledge scores regarding prevention of selected infections among mothers of
infants with their demographic variables.
3) To develop a health education
module regarding prevention of selected infection’s among mothers of infants
with selected infection.
OPERATIONAL DEFINITION:
Assess:
Statistical measurement of knowledge among
mothers of infants regarding prevention of infections.
Knowledge:
It refers to the verbal responses of
respondent’s to knowledge items on prevention of infections in infants as
measured by structured interview schedule.
Prevention:
Process to avoid the occurrence of the
infections among infants.
Selected infections:
It refers to pathological condition such as
common cold, allergic Rhinitis, sinusitis, diarrhea, scabies and eye
infections.
Mothers:
It refers to female who had given birth and
having an infant.
Infant:
A child more than 28 days to less than 1
year of age.
HYPOTHESIS:
H1: There will be significant
association between knowledge scores regarding prevention of selected infections
among mothers of infants with their demographic variables.
ASSUMPTIONS:
1) The mothers may have inadequate
knowledge about prevention of selected infections in infants.
2) The health education module may
enhance the knowledge of mothers regarding prevention of selected infections
among infants.
DELIMITATION:
·
The study
sample was delimited to 40 samples
·
The study
was delimited to K.L.E.U.’s Prabhakar Kore Charitable Hospital and MRC Belgaum.
RESEARCH
METHODOLOGY:
Research Approach:
A descriptive approach was adopted in this
study.
Research
Design:
A non
experimental descriptive survey research design was adopted to carry out the
present study.
Research
Setting:
Setting are the more specific places where
data collection occurs based on the nature of the research question and type of
information needed to address it .Based on the geographic proximity,
feasibility to conduct the study and familiarity with the setting, the
investigator selected KLES Dr. Prabhakar Kore Charitable Hospital Belgaum.
Population
The populations for the present
study were all the mothers who have infants and admitted in KLES Dr. Prabhakar
Kore Charitable Hospital Belgaum.
Sample
In this study the sample
consists of mothers of infants.
Sample technique
Non probability purposive sampling
technique.
Sample size
The sample size in this study is
40 mother’s of infants admitted in KLES Dr. Prabhakar Kore Charitable Hospital
Belgaum.
Description of Tool:
The final tool consists of two sections;
|
Section
I
|
Demographic
data
|
|
Section
II
|
Structured
knowledge questionnaire was on prevention of selected infections among mother
of infant.
|
RESULTS:
The major findings indicated
that
1. Finding related to demographic variables:
In the present study it was
found out that, the mothers belongs to the age group of 21-30 years, followed
by 27.5% in the age group of “up to 20 years”, 12.5% in the age group of 31-40
years and 55% of infants are in age group of 1-3 months, followed by 22.5% in
the age group of 4-6 months, 12.5% are in age group of 7-9 months and remaining
10% are in age group of 10-12 months and 47.5% of the infants are males
whereas 52.5% are females and 47.5% of mothers are having 2 children, followed
by 30% of mothers are having 1 child and remaining 22.5% of mothers are having
more than two children and 42.5% of the respondents studied high school, 32.5%
of them studied primary,15% of them studied university and remaining 10%
studied PUC and 85% of the respondents were house wife, 10% of the respondent
were private and remaining 5% of the respondent were government employ and 50%
of the respondents were family income per month up to Rs.5000, 30% of the
respondent Rs.5001-7000, 7.5% of the respondent Rs. 7001-9000 were family
income per month, and remaining 12.5% of the respondents Rs.9001 and above were
income per month and 15% of the respondents had print media,15% of the
respondents had electronic medie, 25% of the respondents had family members and
friends, and remaining 45% of the respondent had health personnel.
|
Questions
|
Mean
|
SD
|
Mean % of Knowledge
|
|
Overall pre-test Knowledge
|
7.9
|
2.8
|
29.29%
|
2. Assessment of pre-test knowledge of mothers regarding
prevention of selected infections among infants.
Pre test overall knowledge score
on prevention of selected infections of infants. n=40
Table revealed that overall mean
knowledge score in the pretest is 29.29 percentage with the standard deviation
of 2.8.
3. Association between the
existing pre-test knowledge scores mother’s of infants with demographic variables n=40
|
Sl no
|
Demographic Variable
|
Good
|
Average
|
Poor
|
 Cal. value
|
Tab. Value
|
Df
|
|
1
|
Age of the mother in years
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Upto20
|
0
|
6
|
6
|
|
|
|
|
|
21 – 30
|
0
|
12
|
11
|
21.75*
|
5.991
|
2
|
|
|
31 – 40
|
0
|
4
|
1
|
|
|
|
|
|
Above 41
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
|
|
|
|
2
|
Age of the infant
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
1 – 3 months
|
0
|
11
|
10
|
|
|
|
|
|
4 – 6
months
|
0
|
6
|
4
|
59.3*
|
7.815
|
3
|
|
|
7 – 9
months
|
0
|
4
|
1
|
|
|
|
|
|
10 – 12 months
|
0
|
1
|
3
|
|
|
|
|
3
|
Sex of infants
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Male
|
0
|
9
|
10
|
21.25*
|
5.412
|
1
|
|
|
Female
|
0
|
12
|
9
|
|
|
|
|
4
|
Total number of children
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
One
|
0
|
5
|
6
|
|
|
|
|
|
Two
|
0
|
11
|
9
|
43.57*
|
5.991
|
2
|
|
|
More than two
|
0
|
6
|
3
|
|
|
|
|
5
|
Education status of mother
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Primary school
|
0
|
5
|
7
|
|
|
|
|
|
Illiterate
|
0
|
10
|
8
|
|
|
|
|
|
Higher secondary school
|
0
|
3
|
1
|
33.13*
|
7.815
|
3
|
|
|
Graduate and Post graduate
|
0
|
4
|
2
|
|
|
|
|
6
|
Occupation of mother
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
House wife
|
0
|
19
|
15
|
|
|
|
|
|
Working in field
|
0
|
0
|
0
|
21.99*
|
5.991
|
2
|
|
|
Working in Pvt. Sector
|
0
|
3
|
1
|
|
|
|
|
|
Working in Govt. sector
|
0
|
1
|
1
|
|
|
|
|
7
|
Family income (Per month)
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Upto Rs.5000
|
0
|
11
|
9
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rs.5001-7000
|
0
|
6
|
5
|
55.47*
|
7.815
|
3
|
|
|
Rs.7001-9000
|
0
|
3
|
1
|
|
|
|
|
|
Above Rs.9001
|
0
|
2
|
3
|
|
|
|
|
8
|
Source of information
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Printed media (Newspaper Magazines)
|
0
|
3
|
3
|
|
|
|
|
|
Electronics Media (T.V. Radio)
|
0
|
4
|
2
|
13.79*
|
7.815
|
3
|
|
|
Family members and friends
|
0
|
6
|
4
|
|
|
|
|
|
Health professionals
|
0
|
9
|
9
|
|
|
|
Key: X2 : Chi-square , df :
Degree of freedom , NS : Not significant
Data presented in table
indicated that there was significant association between existing pre test
knowledge scores of mothers of infants with their socio-demographic variables
such as age the mother, age of the infant, gender of infant, total number of
children, educational status of mother, occupation of mother, family income per
month and previous source of information at (P>0.05).
DISCUSSION:
To assess the existing knowledge
regarding prevention of selected infections among mothers of infants.
Pre test level of knowledge of
mother of infants reveals that most of the mothers (55%) had average knowledge
and remaining (45%) had poor knowledge.
The findings are consistent with
the study conducted by Flore G, Tomny SC (2000) at Chandigarh. Their study on
mothers knowledge and practice in prevention of neonatal infections showed that
28% respondents were aware that skin infections is common in neonatal period
and 20% of mothers had the knowledge that poor feeding pattern is one of the
sign of neonatal infection.
To find the association between
pre test knowledge scores regarding prevention of selected infections among
mothers of infants with their demographic variables.
Study findings reveals that
there is significant association between pre test knowledge score of the
mothers and demographic variable like age of mothers, age of infants, gender of
infants, total number of children, educational status of mother, occupation of
mother, family income per month and previous source of information (P<0.05).
Hence H1 was accepted.
The findings are consistent with
the study conducted by Binnumol Pollassary (2002) Mangalore.The study was
consistent with practices among mothers, to assess the knowledge status of on
URTI. Here there was significant association between knowledge and demographic
variables like mothers’ educational status and number of children.
CONCLUSION:
The findings of the study
revealed that the pre-test majority of mothers 22(55%) are found with average
knowledge, 18 (45%) of them with poor knowledge and none of respondents have
good knowledge. There is significant association between pre test knowledge
scores of mothers of infants with their socio-demographic variables such as age
of the infant, age the mother, gender of infant, total number of children,
educational status of mother, occupation of mother, family income per month and
previous source of information.
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