@2024 Afarand., IRAN

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ISSN: 2383-2150    Journal of Education and Community Health 2015;1(4):43-50

Background
Mortality rate of children less than five years is known as one of the most important indicators of health and development in countries [1].
Previous Studies
Seven of every ten child deaths occur due to acute respiratory infections, diarrhea, measles, malaria, malnutrition, and in most cases a combination of these scenarios[2]. … [3-10]. Regarding the nature of respiratory and gastrointestinal diseases, necessary steps should be taken for early detection and appropriate action to seek early treatment by the mother as the main child care provider. Mother’s competence in her role is one of the most important predictor of children's health [11].... [12].
Aim(s)
This study aimed to determine the knowledge, attitude and performance of mothers regarding the warning signs in children less than five years, among mothers who had referred to health care centers in the city of Arak.
Research type
This study is in form of descriptive – analytic.
Research society, place and time
The study was carried out over 350 mothers who had referred to health care centers of Arak city.
Sampling method and number
The sample size in this study was calculated with 95% level of confidence,0.05 accuracy and recognition rate (about 6.67%) in the similar study [3]. Entry requirement for the study were having children less than five years, literacy and the exclusion requirement was mother's reluctance to participate in the study. For sampling, first, based on geographical directions, Arak city was divided into four parts and from each part, two health care centers were randomly selected (totally 8 centers). In each center, based on the numbers of available health records incenters, 350samples were randomly selected.
Used devices&materials
Data collection in this study was questionnaire that was completed by interview. This questionnaire set in five parts.The first part included demographic characteristics of the mother and child, the second part had 27 questions about knowledge. Third part had 36 questions about attitude and fourth part had 18 questions about the mother performance with regard to warning signs in children (there were 6 questions with regard to the signs for each of respiratory infections, diarrhea, and fever and seizure ).In knowledge part for correct answers 1 score and for each wrong answers and don’t know answers zero score were considered.In the attitude part.The score range for each question was between 1 to 5, so thatscore 1 was given to the answer strongly disagree,score 2 for disagree , score 3 for don’t know , score 4 for agree and score 5 for strongly agree. In the section of checklist for performance, based on the mother performance about danger signs in childrenthe score range for each question was variable between zero and four so to the answer never, rarely, sometimes, often, and always, the scores of 0, 1, 2, 3, and 4 were given respectively.At the end score of knowledge, attitude and performance of each person was calculated based on 100 scores.Content validity was used to assess the validity of the questionnaire. Accordingly, the questionnaire was prepared according to references and authentic books [2, 4, 13], and then were evaluated by the opinions of ten experts and their views were applied .Finally, its validity was confirmed. The reliability of the questionnaire, also, was calculated through Cronbach`s Alphafor completed questionnaire by 50 mothers who were demographically similar to the participants of this study. The amount of Alpha was 0.96 for the whole questionnaire. Statistical analysis: Data analysis was performed using SPSS version 19 software in the significance level of less than 0.05 with central tendency and distribution parameters, frequency distribution tables, and using Pearson correlation test, independent t-test and ANOVA .
Findings by Text
Based on the results of this study, mean and standard deviation for mother’s age was of 28.82 ± 5.35 years, for children age was 17.97±17.54 months and for rank of birth was 1.58 ± 0.77.Most mothers were housewives (86%), with secondary education (40%) and the average economic level (69.1%; Table 1).Mean and standard deviation of the mean scores were 60.71 ± 13.7 for knowledge and77.45 ± 5.29for attitude. Mean and standard deviation of the mothers performance about symptoms of respiratory infections in children was 4.95 ± 4.15; about diarrhea it was49.25 ± 41.42, and about fever and seizures it was52.1 ± 42.91 (Table 2).The relationship between demographic characteristics and the mean score of knowledge, attitude and mothers’ performance about warning signs in children using t-tests, ANOVA and Pearson have been provided in Tables 3, 4, and 5.Based on these tables, significant relation was observed between mother`s job with function in the field of respiratory infections, diarrhea and febrile seizures. There was a significant relationship between economic situation of families based on monthly income with knowledge and performance about respiratory infections, diarrhea and febrile seizure. Moreover, significant relation was observed between education level of mother with function in the field of respiratory infections, diarrhea and febrile seizures. There was a significant relationship between the attitude of mothers with knowledge and function in the field of respiratory infections, diarrhea and febrile seizure. There was a significant relation between the age of mothers with knowledge and function in the field of respiratory infections and diarrhea. In addition, there was a significant relationship between the birth rank with function in the field of respiratory infections and diarrhea.
Main comparison to the similar studies
…[14-18]. Taghdisi and Nejadsadeghiin their study stated that there was a positive correlation between knowledge with attitude[19]. In AskariNejad and Bakhshi study on knowledge, attitude and function of Rafsanjan pregnant women about the importance of health care during pregnancy, the relationship between knowledge and performance of the participants was statistically significant[20].The same relation was also shown in the study by Shahrokhi and Ghorbaniwith title of knowledge, attitude and performance of women taking oral contraceptives for this prevention method[21]. … [22-25].
Suggestions
In order to enhance the knowledge, attitude and performance of mothers about danger signs in children younger than five, designing and implementing of educational programs using appropriate methods are recommended.
Limitations
The limitation of the study is that the data was collected by self-reporting.
Conclusions
Evaluation of Knowledge and attitude by helping to identifying training needs can be useful in designing and implementation of educational programs.
Acknowledgments
Thanks to the all of the professors and staff in Arak University of Medical Sciences, as well as mothers who participated in the study.
Conflict of interest
Non-declared
Ethical Permissions
The study group completed the questionnaire with observing ethical issues, presenting a letter of introduction to the centers,and with their introduction of themselves, study purposes and the obtaining consent of the subjects.
Funding Sources
This study is based on the Master thesis sponsored by the Deputy of Health Education Research, of University of Medical Sciences that is adapted with registration number 1001.

TABLES and CHARTS

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