Conocimientos y prácticas de prevención frente al covid-19 de los padres de familia de pacientes pediátricos en un hospital de referencia del Perú, 2022

Abstract

Objective. To determine the association between preventive knowledge and practices in parents of pediatric patients hospitalized in a reference hospital in 2022. Materials and methods. Observational, analytical, and cross-sectional study conducted between October and December 2022. Preventive practices against COVID-19 were evaluated using an instrument developed by Fernández-Guzmán et al., and knowledge about COVID-19 was assessed using the KNOW-PCOVID-19 by Mejía et al. Prevalence ratios were calculated with a 95% confidence interval. Crude and adjusted analyses were performed, considering a significant p-value <0.05. STATA v.16 software was used for the analysis. Results. The final sample included 338 participants, mostly women (74.6%), aged between 32 and 35 years. 26.6% of parents had a high level of preventive practices, and 26.3% of them had a high level of knowledge about COVID-19. A significant association was found between gender and preventive practices, with men showing a 50% lower prevalence than women (PR: 0.50; 95%CI: 0.29-0.86, p=0.013). Conclusions. An association was found between a high level of knowledge and preventive practices in parents of hospitalized children. Although close to three out of ten parents demonstrated good compliance with preventive practices; men showed lower compliance than women. Therefore, we highlight the need for strategies to strengthen communication to improve understanding and promote a more effective response to COVID-19.