Assessment of Knowledge Regarding Acute Respiratory Infection (ARI) and Its Prevention among the Mothers Having Underfive Children with a View to Develop an Information Booklet in Selected Hospitals of Guwahati, Assam

Introduction: Respiratory tract infections account for majority of acute illnesses in children. About 13 million children under 5 years of age die every year in the world, 95% of them in developing countries, one third of total deaths are due to ARI. On an average, children below 5 years of age suffer about 5 episodes of ARI per child per year, thus accounting for about 238 million attacks. The study was carried out to assess the level of knowledge regarding acute respiratory infection (ARI) and its prevention among the mothers having underfive children with a view to develop an information booklet in selected hospitals of Guwahati, Assam. Methods: A descriptive survey design was adopted for the study. Non - probability convenience sampling technique was used to collect data from 158 mothers having underfive children attending pediatric OPD of Gauhati Medical College and Hospital, Mahendra Mohan Choudhury Hospital and Maternal and Child Welfare Hospital, Assam. Data were collected by using structured interview schedule. Data analysis was done by descriptive and inferential statistics. Results: It revealed that majority number i.e. 106 (67.1%) out of 158 mothers had moderately adequate knowledge regarding acute respiratory infection (ARI) and its prevention, 30 (19%) had adequate knowledge and 22 (13.9%) had inadequate knowledge. The overall mean was 18.18 with SD �4.45 which imply that the subjects had moderately adequate knowledge on average. The area wise distribution on level of knowledge showed highest mean knowledge level of 3.97 (66.17%) with SD � 1.34 in the area of introduction of acute respiratory infection (ARI) and the lowest mean knowledge level of 1.89 (47.25%) with SD � 1.04 was noted in the area of acute lower respiratory infection (ALRI). The study findings showed significant association between level of knowledge and the age of the mother (?2=35.62, df (6), p - value=less than0.001), religion (?2=26.52, df (6), p - value=less than0.001), education of the mother (?2=88.65, df (12), p - value=less than0.001), occupation of the mother (?2=24.43, df (8), p - value=0.002), monthly income of the family (?2=33.40, df (10), p - value=less than0.001), age of the child (?2=19.43, df (8), p - value=0.013) and occurrence of acute respiratory infection in underfive children (?2=18.58, df (6), p - value=0.005) where pless than0.05. The information booklet regarding acute respiratory infection (ARI) and its prevention for the mothers having underfive children was developed, validated and distributed after the interview schedule. Conclusion: On the basis of the study findings, it can be concluded that majority of mothers had moderately adequate knowledge regarding acute respiratory infection (ARI) and its prevention. The result of this study may provide important baseline information about awareness on acute respiratory infection (ARI) and its preventions among the mothers having underfive children. There was a need to increase the level of knowledge on acute respiratory infection (ARI) and its prevention. Therefore, health care professionals should develop various effective programs to help them acquire adequate knowledge for the betterment of children as a whole.