Knowledge and attitude towards prevention of diarrhea among the mothers of under-five children: A cross-sectional approach

In the globe, under-five children experience on average 3.2 episodes of diarrhea every year and consequently, 1.87 million children will die from dehydration associated with diarrheal disease. And in developing countries, diarrheal disease among under-five children accounts for about 21% of all deaths. Therefore, under-five children are susceptible to diarrhea-related death if proper measures are not taken. In India up to two-third of total pediatric admissions are due to diarrheal disease and, up to 17% of all deaths in indoor pediatric patients are associated with dehydration-related diarrhea. Thus the researchers conducted research on knowledge, and attitude on the prevention of diarrhea among the mothers of under-five children in selected hospitals at, Bengaluru. A total of 75 mothers were recruited randomly. A Descriptive research design with cross-sectional approach was used in this study. Structured knowledge questionnaire and 5 point attitude rating scales developed by the investigator were used to collect data. The study findings showed that 40 mothers (53.3) had inadequate knowledge, 30 (40.0%) had moderate knowledge and only 5 (6.7%) had adequate knowledge about diarrhea and regarding attitude12 mothers (16%) expressed a moderate level of attitude, 63 (84%) had inadequate attitude and none of them had a high level of attitude towards prevention of diarrhea.