Mothers’ approach on the use of antibiotics in children: how effective is short information?

Abstract

Objective: In the use of antibiotics on children, knowledge and attitudes of parents’ especially mothers’ have great importance. Aim of this study is to investigate the knowledge, attitudes and behaviors of mothers’ on the use of antibiotics for children, and to determine the impact of short information.

Methods: Study data were collected at November 2013 through questionnaires completed by 223 mothers with at least one child in pre-school age face to face. After using the questionnaire consist of sociodemographic characteristics, knowledge of antibiotics, the mothers’ behavior and attitudes, brief information was given about the rational use of antibiotics. A month after the mothers surveyed over the same survey was conducted by telephone. SPSS 15.0 statistical program was used for evaluation of the data and frequency, chi-square and McNemar tests were performed. p <0.05 was considered statistically significant.

Results: The mean age of the 223 mothers participated in our study was 32.17±5.54. 41.3% of mothers (n=92) trained more than 12 years, 92.4% (n=206) were married and 87.0% (n=194) have nuclear family consisting of parents and children. The most important source of information about the use of antibiotics was doctors. Before giving information 64.1% (n=143) mother stated that doctors were source of knowledge, after information this number was 77.6% (n=173); the difference was statistically significant (p=0.002). When asked to mention the names of antibiotics they know; 75.3% mothers (n=168) said at least one name. After a month of brief information the number increased to 203 (91.1%) (p=0.00). Before information 81.2% participants (n=181) knew the true purpose of antibiotics; after informing the mothers, the number (n=200; 89.7%) was significantly increased (p=0.019).

Conclusion: Despite the high knowledge level of participants, brief information showed a positive contribution. Rational antibiotic use is still an important health issue in our country. Physicians should behave sensitive to this issue; inform the patient during the opportunities in the interview process.