Abrahama Zephania Saitabau, Mahegaa Paulo, Kahinga Aveline Aloyce
Department of Surgery, School of Medicine and Dentistry, University of Dodoma, Dodoma, Tanzania.
East Afr Health Res J. 2023;7(2):193-201. doi: 10.24248/eahrj.v7i2.731. Epub 2023 Nov 30.
Upper respiratory tract infections (URTIs) are common illnesses, especially in children and account globally for a substantial proportion of consultations with family doctors. The objective of this study was to assess knowledge, attitude and practice of caretakers regarding antibiotic usage in treating URTIs in Southern Tanzania.
A cross-sectional hospital-based study was conducted at Iringa Regional Referral Hospital in Southern Tanzania from March to June 2022 involving 300 caregivers. Data was analyzed using Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) version 23.
About two-thirds (71.7%) of the caregivers had poor knowledge regarding antibiotic usage in treating children's URTIs. In this study, 96.7% of the caregivers correctly identified amoxicillin as the most prescribed medication for treatment of children's URTIs. However, about two-thirds (65.0 %) of the parents were aware of the antibiotic resistance that could be caused by misuse of antibiotics. In this study 50.7% of the respondents had poor attitude while 49.3% had good attitude regarding antibiotic usage in treating children's URTIs. Similarly, 53% of the respondents thought local medications are better than antibiotics in treatment of URTIs. Regarding practices, 75.3% of the respondents used to complete the dose of antibiotics when prescribed for treatment of URTIs and 69.7% used to treat their children at home when having URTIs. A significant association was found between the majority of the socio-demographic characteristics of the respondents and the level of knowledge. Similarly, there was a statistically significant association between knowledge and attitude of caregivers pertaining to antibiotic usage in treating children's URTIs.
There is lack of knowledge among caregivers regarding antibiotic usage for treating children's URTIs at the regional hospital and also more than half of the caregivers had poor attitude towards antibiotic usage. Therefore, caregiver's educational interventions should be implemented through health promotions and educational campaigns that should be mainly conducted by medical doctors since they were reported by the caregivers to be the commonest source of information.
上呼吸道感染（URTIs）是常见疾病，在儿童中尤为常见，在全球范围内占家庭医生诊疗的很大比例。本研究的目的是评估坦桑尼亚南部照顾者在治疗儿童上呼吸道感染时对抗生素使用的知识、态度和做法。
2022年3月至6月在坦桑尼亚南部的伊林加地区转诊医院进行了一项基于医院的横断面研究，涉及300名照顾者。使用社会科学统计软件包（SPSS）23版对数据进行分析。
约三分之二（71.7%）的照顾者在治疗儿童上呼吸道感染时对抗生素使用的知识掌握不足。在本研究中，96.7%的照顾者正确识别阿莫西林是治疗儿童上呼吸道感染最常用的药物。然而，约三分之二（65.0%）的家长意识到抗生素滥用可能导致的抗生素耐药性。在本研究中，50.7%的受访者态度不佳，而49.3%的受访者在治疗儿童上呼吸道感染时对抗生素使用的态度良好。同样，53%的受访者认为在治疗上呼吸道感染时，当地药物比抗生素更好。在做法方面，75.3%的受访者在按处方治疗上呼吸道感染时会用完抗生素剂量，69.7%的受访者在孩子患急性上呼吸道感染时会在家自行治疗。在受访者的大多数社会人口学特征与知识水平之间发现了显著关联。同样，照顾者在治疗儿童上呼吸道感染时对抗生素使用的知识与态度之间存在统计学上的显著关联。
地区医院的照顾者在治疗儿童上呼吸道感染时对抗生素使用缺乏知识，并且超过一半的照顾者对抗生素使用态度不佳。因此，应通过健康促进和教育活动实施照顾者教育干预措施，这些活动主要应由医生开展，因为照顾者报告称医生是最常见的信息来源。
