Abstract

Introduction: Adequate maternal knowledge about home-based management of childhood diarrhea has a positive effect on practice of Oral Rehydration Therapy (ORT), with resultant decrease in child mortality. However, barriers and gaps exist in knowledge and practice of home-based management.Objective: To determine the barriers to Oral Rehydration Therapy of childhood diarrhea by assessing knowledge, attitude, and practice of acute diarrhea management by mothers attending selected public and private hospitals of Peshawar.Materials & Methods: This was a cross-sectional descriptive study conducted from May to August 2019 at two major public and private hospitals of Peshawar, where attending mothers were selected by convenient sampling to answer a questionnaire assessing their knowledge, attitude, and practice towards management of acute diarrhea in their children under 5 years of age. Data were analyzed for descriptive statistics by SPSS 20.0.Results: A total of 296 mothers attending private and public hospitals were interviewed, of which 256(89.5%) were housewives and 67(22.6%) college graduates; 258(87.2%) mothers were from Pakistan and 38(12.8%) from Afghanistan. Majority had satisfactory knowledge (251, 84.8%), positive attitude (218, 73.6%), and satisfactory practicing habits (239, 80.7%). Most (256, 86.5%) mothers correctly defined diarrhea and 215(72.6%) correctly identified its cause. Attitude towards diarrheal management revealed that 257(86.8%) mother believed they could manage diarrhea at home, while 229(77.4%) believed that ORT can control diarrheal episodes; 251(84.8%) responded positively to seeking treatment at a hospital during severe disease. Regarding practices of mothers, 118(39.9%) increased breastfeeding, while 40.5% offered more fluids, and 133(38.2%) offered more food during a diarrheal episode. Most mothers (273, 92.2%) practiced handwashing; 250(84.5%) used ORT during diarrheal episode and prepared it correctly 233(78.7%).Conclusion: The knowledge, attitude, and practices of mothers about acute diarrheal disease in children and its management were satisfactory.