Mothers Perception regarding Poisoning among their Preschool Children

Abstract

Background: Poisoning is a term used to describe an event where the poisonous substanceshave entered the body through breathing, mouth, blood vessels, eating, injections and leads to thedestruction and death of the body's cells. The aim of this study was to assess Mothers perceptionregarding poisoning among their preschool children. Research design: A descriptive study design wasutilized to conduct this study. Setting: This study was conducted at Toxicology Unit at BenhaUniversity Hospital in Benha City, Egypt. The sample: Purposive sample of 25% of all poisonedchildren attended the previously mentioned setting with their mothers (130 mothers). Tools of datacollection: Two tools were used, I. An interviewing questionnaire was used, It consisted of four parts:First part: Socio demographic characteristics of the mothers. This part included two items. A) Mother'sdemographic characteristics B) Child's characteristic. Second part: Was concerned with the child healthstatus. Third part: Was concerned with knowledge of mothers regarding to poisoning among theirpreschool age children. Forth part: An observational checklist was used to observe mothers׳preventivepractices. II. Scale to measure the attitude of mothers. Results: 60.7% of mothers had poor totalknowledge regarding poisoning among preschool age children, 67.7% of mothers had unsatisfactorytotal of reported practices about poisoning, 62.3% of mothers had total negative attitude aboutpoisoning of preschool children. Conclusion: There were a positive statistically significant correlationbetween total knowledge and attitude scores, between total knowledge and total reported practicesscores and between attitude scores and total reported practices regarding poisoning among theirpreschool age children. Recommendations: All possible forms of mass media should be utilized tohelp in disseminating information about poisoning in children.