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Abstract

Background:

A large number of children die due to pneumonia making it the single largest infectious cause of death more than AIDS, measles, and malaria combined. In India, acute respiratory infection is a major public health problem, especially for the age group of 0–5 years which contributes to 15–30% of deaths falling under this age group and most of these deaths are preventable.

Objective:

To assess the level of knowledge and perception regarding childhood pneumonia among mothers of under-five children.

Materials and Methods:

A cross-sectional study was conducted among 460 mothers of under-five children. Interviewer-administered structured questionnaire was used for data collection and the sampling technique used was three-stage cluster sampling. The questionnaire was divided into three sections as socio-demographic profile, level of knowledge, and level of perception.

Results:

The study found that mothers were predominantly secondary school graduates (32.6%) out of which, 93.7% were homemakers, 41.3% mothers had fair knowledge, and 41.5% had fair perception about pneumonia. Age and education level of mothers had a significant association with the knowledge as well as with perception. There was a significant association between level of knowledge and perception of childhood pneumonia among these mothers.

Conclusion:

Overall, mothers had fair knowledge and fair perception of childhood pneumonia. The lack of knowledge about simple signs and symptoms and factors related to pneumonia needs to be addressed.

Pages

35

Last Page

39

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