Knowledge and Hygiene Practice of mothers of under- five children regarding Diarrhoea: A study in Bargarh District, Odisha.

Abstract

Diarrhoea continues to be a major cause of morbidity and mortality among under-five children. Knowledge of mothers regarding signs and symptoms, mode of spread, and healthy practices like exclusive breast feeding up to 6 months, immunization, ORS, good sanitary conditions are essential to prevent morbidity and mortality related to diarrhoea. The present study was conducted with an objective of assessing knowledge and practice of mothers of under-five children regarding management of diarrhoea. A cross-sectional hospital based study was carried out in Bargarh district of Odisha. 120 mothers and their children were selected randomly from the diarrhoea ward of Govt. Hospital of Bargarh district of Odisha for the present study. Result of the study revealed that majority of the mothers were in the age group of 21-30 years and 36.67% mothers had high school level of education. Most of the mothers belonged to lower middle socio-economic class. More than half of participants lacked adequate knowledge regarding danger signs of diarrhoea, and preparation of ORS. Significant association was found between overall knowledge of mothers in managing diarrhoea with their level of education and socio-economic class. It was observed that most of the mothers practiced good personal hygiene during diarrhoea of the children. Self prepared food was used by 90.83% of mothers during diarrhoea where as only 52.5% of mothers prepare special food for their children. A strong significant association was found between socio-economic class, education level of mothers with hygiene practice during diarrhoea (P=0.042) in this study. So health education and behaviour change communication should be prioritized to mitigate problems related to diarrhoea