| dc.description.abstract | Globally, pneumonia is the leading cause of death in children under the age 5 years, with the burden highest in developing countries. Majority of caregivers perceive that exposure to cold weather or foods as the cause of pneumonia and it can be best prevented by wearing warm clothing or avoiding cold foods. Majority of caregivers rely on over the counter drugs and inappropriate home remedies to treat pneumonia, these contribute to delayed health seeking, causing more morbidity and mortality among under-fives. Caregivers are the primary providers for their children and thus their knowledge, attitudes and practices could be used to reduce mortality cases that are related to pneumonia. This cross-sectional, mixed-methods study assessed the knowledge attitudes and practices of caregivers on pneumonia among children aged below five years at Migori County Referral Hospital. Systematic sampling technique was used to recruit a sample of 209 child-caregiver pairs from the immunization register for quantitative study and a convenience sampling technique was used to select four focus group discussion members from other caregivers and five key informants who were health workers for qualitative study. A pre-tested, semi structured questionnaire was used to collect data. The Statistical Package for Social Sciences version 23 was used to analyze the data. Descriptive and inferential analyses were done to assess relationships. Multivariate logistic regression was used to examine statistical association between the outcome variable and selected independent variables at 95% confidence level. Level of statistical significance was declared at p <0.05 Thematic approaches guided the analysis of qualitative data.
Tables, figures and texts were used to present the data. Most caregivers were literate, about half of them had secondary education. Majorities (88%) of respondents were aware of pneumonia, and their main source of information about pneumonia was relative/family members followed closely by healthcare providers. The prevalence of pneumonia was 27%. More than 90% of caregivers lacked adequate knowledge regarding causes, risk factors and prevention of pneumonia. Majority of caregivers did not recognize pneumonia as a severe disease, and difficulty in breathing/fast breathing as danger signs. Management practices mostly were self-treatment with over the counter drugs and for most of the children care seeking started on the second and subsequent days of perceived onset of illness after decision to seek care were granted by their children’s fathers. Dietary practices among the caregivers in case of the episode of pneumonia were inappropriate as most caregivers changed the normal diet to liquid foods or stopped feeding/breastfeeding their children. Although majorities of the caregivers were aware of pneumonia, their knowledge, attitudes and practices towards pneumonia were inadequate. The better understanding and sufficient knowledge was significantly correlated with caregiver age (p=0.003) and occupation (p=0.025). A strong association was also found between residence (p=0.023), occupation (p=0.01), marital status (p=0.002), access to television (p=0.014) and attitudes towards pneumonia. Caregivers’ knowledge, attitudes and practices about childhood pneumonia is low. Routine and constant health education efforts are needed to be implemented both at household and community level to increase knowledge, attitudes and appropriate practices on pneumonia using appropriate interventions i.e. radio, television and health campaign so as to preserve the lives of under five children in the community. | en_US |