Knowledge, attitude and practice of mothers/caregivers regarding oral rehydration therapy at Ishaka Adventist Hospital, Bushenyi district, Uganda

Abstract

In Uganda, diarrhea is the second killer of children after malaria. Uganda’s diarrhea prevalence rate in children under five was 26% (WHO 2013). This study was designed to assess the knowledge, attitudes and practices of mothers /caregivers regarding oral rehydration therapy at Ishaka Adventist Hospital, Bushenyi district, Uganda. A simple random sampling technique was used to select 100 mothers of under-five children. A validated semi-structured questionnaire was used for data collection. The questionnaire included 16-point ORT knowledge scales. ORT/SSS knowledge scores of 0-5, >5-10 and >10-16 were considered poor, fair and good, respectively. The age of respondents was 29.8±5.5 years. Their main occupations are petty-trading (43%), full-time housewives” (36%) and artisanship (13%). Most respondents (98%) were aware of ORT, 95% correctly stated the composition of ORS and 44% were able to state the correct proportions of sugar, salt, and water in ORS. Respondents’ sources of information about ORT included health personnel (79%), relatives (11%) and television (6%). Majority (80%) of respondents reported that their child (ren) had diarrhoea within the three months preceding the study and the home treatment given included use of ORT (50%); others gave and native medicine (19%). Seventy per cent of respondents stated that they could prepare ORS, but 73% preferred taking children with diarrhoea to the hospital instead of using ORS. The study concluded that knowledge about oral rehydration therapy was high among respondents, but their use of oral rehydration was low. It was recommended that training, public enlightenment and social marketing strategies are needed to promote the use of oral rehydration therapy among mothers of under-five children