Knowledge attitude and practices related to childhood urinary tract infections among carers of patients with urinary tract infections –A single centre experience

Objectives: Objective was to describe the knowledge attitudes and practices related to management of childhood urinary tract infections(UTI) and influence of socio economic demographic factors on it among carers of children with UTI attending to paediatric clinic in Teaching Hospital of Jaffna.Methods: This study was performed as a descriptive cross sectional study which included 172 carers. A structurally prepared interviewer administered questionnaire was used to collect data from April to July 2014. Chi square test and independent samples t test were used for analysis.Results: Among participants 163(94.8%) were female and 151(87.8%) were mothers. The knowledge about childhood UTI was good 55.8%. More than two third of participants had good knowledge on symptoms (73.8%), urine collection techniques (73.3%) and investigations (68.6%). Around two fifth of carers had good knowledge regarding causes (44.8%) and treatment (46.5%). Of the participants, 84.9% worried about their child’s illness. About 44% of carers used nappy for their child and 81.4% of participants washed their child’s anal region front to back after defecation. One tenth of carers used home remedies to manage UTI. Almost all brought their child to clinic regularly and received explanations about UTI. The factors significantly associated with mean of total knowledge score included carer’s age, educational level, occupation, and monthly income. Knowledge of carers was significantly associated with usage of home remedies and health education by health professionals.Conclusions: Knowledge attitude and practices of carers were satisfactory but need to improve in some aspects. Health education should be more effective and it should augment the awareness and eliminate misconceptions in the community