Parental Knowledge, Attitude and Practices Regarding Antibiotic use for Respiratory tract Infections in Children Varghese Prini1,*, Sunil M2 1Lecturer, Department of Child Health Nursing, Amrita College of Nursing, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Kochi, Kerala 2Professor and Head of Department of Child Health Nursing, Amrita College of Nursing, Amrita Vishwa Vidyapeetham, Kochi, Kerala *Corresponding author: Ms Prini Varghese, Department of Child Health Nursing, Amrita College of Nursing, Amrita Vishwa, Vidyapeetham, Kochi, Kerala. Email Id- prinilijuvaidhyan@gmail.com
Online published on 1 November, 2018. Abstract Background Antibiotic treatment is a prerequisite for modern healthcare and the misuse of antibiotics has become a major public health issue worldwide. The aim of the study was to determine the Knowledge, Attitude and Practices (KAP) of parents regarding antibiotic use for Respiratory Tract Infections (RTIs) in children and explore the factors associated with parents self-medicating (SM) children with antibiotics. Method A descriptive single centered study was conducted among 60 parents of children with RTIs attending Pediatric units of a selected hospital, Kochi. The data which include sociodemographic variables, knowledge questionnaire, attitude scale and checklist were used to assess the KAP of parents regarding antibiotic use for RTIs in children. Both descriptive and inferential statistics were used for the analysis of data. Results The analysis of the data revealed that most of the parents (61.7%) had average knowledge, favourable attitude (95%) and none had poor practices regarding antibiotic use for RTIs in children. The study results showed that 16.8% of the parents had self-administered medication to their children during RTIs. There was a significant correlation (r=0.32; p=0.01) between knowledge and attitude of the parents regarding antibiotic use for RTIs in children. The association between KAP with the selected demographic variables was not significant at p< 0.05 Conclusion The results of the study conducted revealed that lack of complete knowledge and safe practices regarding antibiotic use still persists among the parents and some of the parents used to self-medicate their children. If appropriate antibiotic therapy is not made mandatory, it is possible that even minor infection may become threatening in the future. Top Keywords KAP-Knowledge, Attitude and Practices, RTI-Respiratory Tract Infections, SM-Self-Medication. Top |