Knowledge and practices of choking first aid skills among Palestinian mothers of children under five

Abstract

ObjectivesChoking is considered the fourth leading cause of death among children under the age of five This study was conducted to assess the knowledge and practices of Palestinian mothers regarding choking first aid measures for children under the age of five. MethodsThe research design used was a quantitative cross-sectional descriptive study. Self-report questionnaires were distributed throughout the rural areas of Ramallah and the Palestine Medical Complex. The 432 participants were selected based on a non-randomized convenience sample approach. Several pilot questionnaires were also distributed at the beginning of the data collection process. ResultsThe data were analyzed through the SPSS program version 25; specifically, one-way ANOVA, independent sample T-tests, and Pearson's Correlation test. The mother's total knowledge and practice were coded into two categories: 1 signifying poor knowledge or practice and 2 signifying good knowledge or practice. The mean total knowledge was calculated to be 1.729, while the standard deviation came out to 0.444. The mean total practice was calculated to be 1.240, while the standard deviation came out to 0.428. Specifically, 72.9% of the mothers displayed good knowledge. Yet, 75.9% of the mothers revealed they had poor practices regarding choking first aid measures. ConclusionThis study revealed that there was a gap between the knowledge and practice of mothers’ choking first aid measures. To conclude, mothers had good knowledge when it came to the purpose of this research article; yet the practice was an essential component of the essence that signified poor practice.