Current awareness of mothers regarding the use of ORS: knowledge, attitude and practice

Abstract

Objectives:To study the current situation about the knowledge, attitude and practice of mothers regarding the use of ORS in children with diarrhea. Design: Hospital based descriptive study. Place of study: Diarrhea section of Pediatric Department, Jinnah Hospital, Lahore. Material and Methods: For a period of 2 months (April & May 2003) a single interviewer, according to a pre-designed questionnaire, interviewed mothers of all children aged 1-60 months admitted with diarrhea and signs of some dehydration. Children presenting with severe dehydration, shock, sepsis, or any other primary diagnosis along with accompanying diarrhea like hepatitis, pneumonia, meningitis etc. were excluded. Queries were made regarding mother`s education and socioeconomic background, the knowledge of the mother about diarrhea, ORS, source of information regarding ORS use, method of preparation and use of ORS, type and quantity of ORS used. Results: A total of 151 mothers/ caretakers were interviewed. Among the children, 93(61.5%) were males and 58(38.5%) were females, majority (68.9%) is below 12 months of age. Most (41.05%) were from a rural area, and also majority (56.9%) is uneducated. Out of the total, 128 (84.7%) had used ORS, and 23 (15.3%) had never used it. 117 (77.4%) mothers knew that ORS (nimkol) is a rehydration solution. 89 (69.5%) used the commercially available sachet pack, 80 (62.5%) knew the proper method of preparation of ORS sachet pack, while 48 (37.5%) were unable to tell the right way of preparing it. Out of the 23 mothers who had never used ORS, the common reason was lack of knowledge about the use and importance of ORS. 114 (75.8%) mothers came to know about ORS from a health personal, a doctor in majority of cases, but only 28.9% were assessed for the preparation of ORS, and only 45.6% mother were told about the exact quantity of ORS to be used. Conclusions: Majority of children were below I year of age. Majority of mothers, despite being illiterate and having a rural background, knew about ORS use and had used it, but still 47.01% were preparing it wrongly. Although most of them got information from the first medical attendant, but it was rather incomplete, as the quantity of ORS to be used was not told and the mother`s knowledge to prepare ORS was not assessed. Sachet pack was the predominant type of ORS used.