Perception and practice regarding management of childhood fever among parents of under five children in tertiary level of hospital, Nepal

Abstract

Background: Fever is an extremely common occurrence in paediatric patients and the most common cause for hospital visit. Lack of knowledge regarding childhood fever can cause distress and anxiety among parents. It is one of the main reasons parents seek reassurance and advice from health care professionals. The objective of the study was to assess the perception and practice regarding management of childhood fever among parents of under five children.Methods: The analytical cross sectional study design was conducted among 135 parents of under five children admitted in medical ward of Kanti childrens’ hospital. Kathmandu Nepal, from December 2019 to January 2020. Face to face interview was done for data collection. Self-developed five points Likert scale was used for assessing perception and checklist was used for practice. Obtained data were analyzed by using SPSS version 20, descriptive and inferential statistics was used.Results: Study shows that majority of respondents were of age less than 30 years and 81% were female. Greater part of respondents 71.8% had fair perception on childhood fever. At the same time, half of the respondents 50.4% had poor practices on childhood fever management. The level of perception is strongly associated with educational status (p=0.002) while level of practices is strongly associated with number of children (p=0.040 and residence (p=0.001) of respondents.Conclusions: Overall findings showed that more than two third of the respondents had fair perception towards childhood fever and about half of the respondents had poor practices of childhood fever management which concluded the need of educational intervention and additional research regarding childhood fever.