Effectiveness of Health Education on Knowledge of Mothers of Under Five Children Regarding Management of Children Suffering from Pyrexia

Abstract

Fever is a commonest medical problem in children for which mothers to seek immediate medical care and the parents experience "fever phobia". The study was aimed to assess the mothers' knowledge and effectiveness of health education on mother's knowledge on the management of children suffering from pyrexia. Data was collected from the mothers at pediatric ward, Krishna Hospital and Medical Research Center, Karad, Maharashtra, India. The study design was one group pre-test, post-test design. Forty mothers of children suffering from pyrexia were the samples selected by non-probability purposive sampling technique. The pre-test was conducted on the 1<sup>st</sup> day by administering structured knowledge questionnaire and health education was delivered on management of children suffering from pyrexia. Post-test was conducted on the 7<sup>th</sup> day. Descriptive and inferential statistics were used for analysis. Results show that 11.2 was the mean pre-test value and 20.8 was the mean post-test value. The paired t-test value was 11.097, (p<0.0001) showing a significant gain in the mothers knowledge on management of children suffering from pyrexia. Chi-square test result shows that there was a significant association of knowledge scores of mothers with monthly family income ( χ<sup>2</sup> = 11.039, p<0.05), source of health information ( χ<sup>2</sup> = 17.861, p<0.05). The study concludes that the health education regarding management of children suffering from pyrexia was effective in improving the knowledge of mothers and thus health education interventions should be targeted to mothers to manage children suffering from pyrexia effectively.