Kassaw Mesfin Wudu, Abebe Ayele Mamo, Abate Biruk Beletew, Zemariam Alemu Birara, Kassie Ayelign Mengesha
Department of Nursing, College of Health Science, Woldia University, Woldia, Ethiopia.
Department of Nursing, College of Health Science, Debre Berhan University, Debre Berhan, Ethiopia.
Pediatric Health Med Ther. 2020 Jun 8;11:161-169. doi: 10.2147/PHMT.S229610. eCollection 2020.
Intestinal parasites (IP) are a major public health problem in several developing countries. It accounts for 1.5 billion infections with one or more intestinal parasitic agents. The prevalence of helminthiases in Ethiopia is 29.8% with variable degree of prevalence among the different regions. Young children have a high infestation rate and suffer a substantial burden of , , and . Intestinal parasitic infections have serious consequences for human health; such as hepatomegaly, splenomegaly, esophageal varices, and delay in physical development. Therefore, this study was intended to assess mothers' knowledge, attitude, and practice on prevention and control of intestinal parasitic infestations.
A cross-sectional study was carried out on 378 mothers who had under six and over two year old children. Although 384 mothers were selected using sample size calculation, the data were collected from 378 mother-child pairs using a face to face interview-based questionnaire. The level of maternal knowledge, attitude, and practice are presented in the form of percentage, frequency, and tables. In order to ensure the quality of data, in all of the data collection, data analysis, and write up, a standard operational procedure was followed.
The overall level of good maternal knowledge, positive attitude, and good practice in preventing and controlling intestinal parasitic infection concerning pre-school children in Sekota town was 45.2%, 55.3%, and 51.1% respectively. Seventy-seven (20.4%) respondents reported that they knew about , and 62 (16.4%) participants washed vegetables as a means of intestinal prevention.
The overall level of optimum knowledge, attitude, and practice of mothers on prevention and control of intestinal parasites is significantly low. Therefore, community awareness about intestinal parasitic infestation prevention and control should be created through campaigns or structured training.
肠道寄生虫是多个发展中国家的一个主要公共卫生问题。它导致15亿人感染一种或多种肠道寄生虫病原体。埃塞俄比亚的蠕虫病患病率为29.8%，不同地区患病率程度各异。幼儿感染率高，且承受着 、 以及 的沉重负担。肠道寄生虫感染对人类健康有严重后果，如肝肿大、脾肿大、食管静脉曲张以及身体发育迟缓。因此，本研究旨在评估母亲们在预防和控制肠道寄生虫感染方面的知识、态度和做法。
对378名有6岁以下和2岁以上儿童的母亲进行了一项横断面研究。尽管根据样本量计算选取了384名母亲，但数据是通过基于面对面访谈的问卷从378对母婴中收集的。母亲的知识、态度和做法水平以百分比、频率和表格形式呈现。为确保数据质量，在所有数据收集、分析和撰写过程中都遵循了标准操作程序。
在塞科塔镇，母亲们在预防和控制学龄前儿童肠道寄生虫感染方面的良好知识、积极态度和良好做法的总体水平分别为45.2%、55.3%和51.1%。77名（20.4%）受访者表示他们了解 ，62名（16.4%）参与者将清洗蔬菜作为预防肠道感染的一种方式。
母亲们在预防和控制肠道寄生虫方面的最佳知识、态度和做法的总体水平显著较低。因此，应通过开展宣传活动或进行结构化培训来提高社区对预防和控制肠道寄生虫感染的认识。
