Knowledge, Attitude and Practice on Myths And Belief Of Parents, Regarding Childhood Illness In Outdoor Unit Of Gynaecology Department of A Tertiary Care Teaching Hospital

Knowledge, Attitude and Practice on Myths And Belief Of Parents, Regarding Childhood Illness

Abstract

Introduction:Indian parents often apply different traditional aspects related to health care to treat their children. This may be due to illiteracy and also lack of knowledge, time and money. They avoid going to hospitals and prefer to treat their children by their own traditional ways. Every society follows different myths and belief in different traditional aspects. This includes belief in household remedies, supernatural powers, holy rituals, salvation, offerings and sacrifices. Objectives: To assess the knowledge, attitude and practice of parents towards care of the child during common childhood illnesses. Materials and Methods: This is a questionnaire based survey type study. undertaken among 100 caretakers using structured questionnaires. Analysis was done by percentage basis. Results: Considering knowledge, attitude and practice, 75% had knowledge about the childhood illness, 73.8% of them had a positive attitude towards it and finally 44.3% of them had actually practiced it. Conclusion: Implementation of educational awareness programmes with postnatal counselling is crucially important in order to improve management of childhood illnesses.[ Shahenaz M Natl J Integr Res Med, 2019; 10(3):49-54]