Abstract
Gastrointestinal infection is an important public health problem in children and is
frequently seen in developing countries due to low socioeconomic status and education
levels, not obeying hygiene rules, and lack of environmental sanitation. Prevention
of diarrheal diseases and raising the awareness of the mothers about diarrhea/gastroenteritis
is a very important subject. The aim of this study was to evaluate the knowledge and
attitude of the mothers, who attended a pediatric outpatient clinic for any reason,
about the management and prevention of gastroenteritis in children.
This cross-sectional study was performed in Konya, Turkey. The study was carried out
with mothers who attended the pediatric outpatient clinic of a faculty of medicine
and who had a baby between 0 and 2 years of age. Surveys prepared according to the
literature, were used for collecting data. Descriptive statistics, chi-square test,
and independent t-test were used for data analysis. A p-value of < 0.05 was considered to be significant.
The mean age of mothers was 31.7 ± 7.2 years. Of all the mothers, 97.2% had short
nails, 76.3% regularly cleaned their nails once a week, and 92.2% used soap for hand
washing every time. A mean score of 8.7 ± 2.8 for a question giving 12 situations
where hand washing was necessary was obtained. Of the mother's babies, 40.3% had had
diarrhea at least once. In terms of giving baby water and changing feeding behavior
during diarrhea/gastroenteritis, significant differences were found between mothers
whose babies had diarrhea/gastroenteritis previously and those whose babies had not
experienced diarrhea/gastroenteritis. 83.6% of mothers had never heard about vaccination
against rotavirus.
Washing hands correctly and mothers' knowledge about proper water and food hygiene
are important points in protecting children against diarrheal and gastroenteritis
diseases. However, there is lack of knowledge and good practice, both in protecting
children from, and managing children with, diarrhea. Thus, we believe that it would
be beneficial to inform and educate mothers with little children, regularly about
these issues.
Keywords
gastroenteritis - diarrhea - hygiene - children - prevention
