Background: Diarrhoea is a leading cause of under – five morbidity and mortality.
Diarrhoea deaths can be prevented by adequate case management of diarrhoeal
episodes in children. With majority of cases being treated initially or completely in the
home and community, the level of awareness of diarrhoea and simple home
management practices among caregivers are key determining factors to reducing
diarrhoea morbidity and mortality in children.
Aim: To determine caregivers’ perception, knowledge and practice of home
management of diarrhoea of children under five years of age presenting to the Diarrhoea
Training Unit of a tertiary hospital in Southern Nigeria.
Study Design: A clinic – based descriptive cross sectional study.
Place and Duration of Study: The study was carried out in the Diarrhoea Training Unit
of the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital, Rivers State, Nigeria from July to
December 2013.
Methodology: A structured pre–tested questionnaire was used to collect data from
caregivers on demographic characteristics, knowledge and practice of diarrhoea home
treatment. There were 8 knowledge and 10 practice questions; each was scored a pointif correctly answered. The caregivers were grouped into those having good, moderate
and poor knowledge or practice according to scores obtained.
Results: Of the 157 caregivers, 29.3% had a good level of knowledge, while 33.8% had
good level of practice of the home management of diarrhoea. A higher knowledge score
was significantly associated with the Social class (P=.002) and mother’s educational
level (P=.002). A higher practice score was also significantly associated with the Social
class (P<.001) and mother’s educational level (P<.001). After adjusting for other factors,
mother’s educational level was significantly associated with both level of knowledge
(P=0.022) and practice (P=0.012) of the home management of diarrhea.
Conclusion: The study has shown a low level of knowledge and practice among the
caregivers as regarding the home management of diarrhoea. A higher level of education
in mothers was significantly associated with a higher level of knowledge and practice.