Knowledge and practices of mothers on home management of diarrhoea in underfives children at Ruli health center in Gakenke district.

Abstract

Background: Diarrhea is one of the major public health problem worldwide, especially in developing countries. Knowledge and practices of the mothers are crucial in home management of diarrhea in under-five children. They are important determinants of the occurrence and outcome of diarrheal disease. The aim of the study: The aim of this study is to assess knowledge and practice of mothers on home management of diarrhea in under-fives children at Ruli health center in Gakenke district. Methodology: A nonexperimental descriptive cross-sectional design with quantitative approach was employed on 160 mothers at Ruli health center, Gakenke distric, Rwanda via a probability simple random sample. Knowledge and practices were assessed using structured interview schedule. Data analysis was performed using inferential and descriptive statistics. Testing for significant demographic factors associated with mother‟s knowledge and practices, and for relationship between knowledge and practice of mothers were performed by multivariate logistic regression and correlation (bivariate analysis). Results: of the total 160 mothers, 71 (44.4%) had good level of knowledge, while 76 (47.5%) had good level of practice. Knowledge was significantly associated with age (p=0.035); and wealth status (p=0.033). Practice was significantly associated with age (p=0.002) and child‟s care taker (p=0.040). There is a strong significant positive linear correlation between practice and knowledge (r = .755 p=0.0001) Conlusion: The level of knowledge and practice was low among mothers as regards to the home management of diarrhea among under-fives children. The correlation results revealed an increase in knowledge to necessitate an increase in the practice of mothers. Therefore, this calls for need to devise an effective health education strategies of mothers to promote their knowledge and practices regarding home management of diarrhea in children under 5 years of age.