2023, Vol. 6, Issue 2, Part A

Introduction: One of the most common disorders that hinders the growth and development of children and young children is diarrhoea. Even while diarrhoea is not deadly in and of itself, mother’s poor knowledge and mismanagement of diarrhoea can cause serious dehydration.

Aim: To study the knowledge, attitude and practices in management of diarrhoea in mothers of under 5 children.

Material and Methods: The present cross sectional study was conducted in the department of paediatrics, of Acharya Shri Chander College of Medical Sciences (ASCOMS) and Hospital, Jammu over a period of 9 months and a total of 300 mothers of under five children were included in the study. The data was collected with the help of structured questionnaire consisting of questions on knowledge, attitude and practices in management of diarrhoea. The analysis of data was done with the help of SPSS software version 21.0.

Result: The study found that the majority of study participants were aware of the symptoms and causes of diarrhoea, including frequent passage of watery stool (67%), contaminated food and water (34%), sunken eyes as a sign and symptom of diarrhoea (35%), and the possibility that diarrhoea could cause weight loss (69%), that diarrhoea is a preventable disease (95%), and that 43% of study participants knew that giving children clean food and water can prevent diarrhoea (43%) and mostly the study participants also knew that the ORS is helpful in treating diarrhoea (84%).

Conclusion: The current study concluded that mothers of children under five had knowledge regarding diarrhoea and it’s management and also showed positive attitude.