Parent's Attitude, Knowledge and Belief of Child's Fever Managements in Al-Qassim - Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Background: Parent’s misconception of fever, result in increased anxiety and antipyretics are commonly used in this situation. So any lack of parent’s knowledge regarding strategies of using them raises the possibility of drug-related problems. Objective: This study evaluated the parents’ knowledge, attitude and beliefs in dealing with the children’s fever. Methods: An ethically approved cross-sectional study was conducted in Qassim region -Saudi Arabia. Results: A total of 490 parents were participated in this study, 83.7% of them were mothers. Half of parents use the armpit site for measuring temperature. The majority of parents considered the temperature ≤37°C as normal and more than half of them considered ≥38°C as fever temperature. Convulsion was believed to be a complication of fever in 71% of parents and there was a significant association between the number of children and the practice of giving antipyretics. A wrong practice of assessing fever was using hand touch, and this study revealed that this behavioral was presented in a nearly third of parents. Acetaminophen was the commonly used antipyretics beside ice packs as a common non pharmacological therapy. The study also showed the majority of parents didn’t know the importance of weight in considering antipyretic. Conclusion: Over all, parents participated in this study have inadequate knowledge about fever, its assessment and decision of giving a medication. However, past experiences and the number of sibling highly influence their practice and knowledge. Therefore, there is a need of effort to maximize parents’ information and awareness about fever.