Childhood Diarrhea and its management- a community based study estimating knowledge, attitude and practice of Saudi Mothers, Saudi Arabia
Aim To demonstrate the best home care of children with diarrhea in our community by investigating certain knowledge deficiencies, specific inappropriate attitudes, and particular improper practice toward children diarrhea and its management, this study was conducted to evaluate knowledge, attitude and practice of Saudi mothers towards diarrhea in their children and its management at home. Methods Online cross-sectional validated online survey targeting Saudi mothers who are living in Saudi Arabia was used to collect data from the beginning of March to the end of April 2019. Results A total of 1140 mothers (52.1% of them are housewives) participated in the study. About of 40.3 % of participating mothers believed that childhood diarrhea is major problem in Saudi community; however, Almost 23% of the participants were unable to identify any critical sign of sever diarrhea, and around 66% falsely stated that diarrhea is caused by teething. Although of 62 % of our participating mothers knew about the oral rehydration therapy (ORS), only 23.5 % of them used it for their children. Conclusion Adequate knowledge of mothers about the critical sings, causes, transmission, prevention, and management of childhood diarrhea should be applied in simple language to communicate the health-related information in clear manner.