Perceptions and practices of mothers and caregivers on common diseases in children under five years of age in a Mayan community in Yucatán, México

Abstract

Community perceptions and practices towards the disease are mainly influenced by traditional medicine. The intercultural perspective in health allows building symmetrical relationships between medical and traditional knowledge. One of the most vulnerable group is under five years age. Exploring the perceptions and practices of mothers and caregivers on the disease and care of children can guide towards better health practices. Objective. Describe the perceptions and practices of mothers about the main health problems of their children during an emergency. Methodology. Quantitative-qualitative study, participatory action-research type with an intercultural perspective. Question guide was prepared for the exchange of knowledge with the focus group technique. Through inductive analysis of the transcripts, themes emerged. Results. Thirty-one mothers and caregivers attended the workshops. There were 48.6% emergencies due to diarrhea, fever and accidents. Home remedies, lack of hygiene in homes and lack of doctors on weekends were noted. Conclusions. Emergencies in children occured in almost half of the morbidity cases in the community studied. A new regionalization is necessary to reduce health gaps for children under five years of age.