The Approach of Parents to Fever of Children: A Survey Study

Objective: The aim of this study was to evaluate the approach of parents to fever of children and related factors. Methods: In this survey study, A 26-question survey was conducted the parents whose children were under 15 years of age and admitted to the department of Emergency at Ministry of Health Okmeydanı Training and Research Hospital between November 2014 and April 2015 due to fever. The survey questions included the presence of a thermometer at home, their manner of taking temperature, mother's knowledge level about fever, methods applied for reducing fever, antipyretic use and their concerns as well as the demographic characteristics. Results: In the study, 250 parents who were parents of 132 boys and 128 girls enrolled and the mean age of mothers, fathers and children who participated in the study were 25, 29.3 and 3.6 years, respectively. Most of the families (81.2 %) were nuclear family which consists of mother, father and children. It was recorded that 3.2% of parents with the score 0; 19.2% of parents with the score 10; and 86.4% of parents with the score 5 according to fever concern scale rated from 0 to 10. Conclusion: Parents should be informed correctly about fever in children to prevent fever phobia that causes an excessive number of unnecessary applications to the emergency department, high health care cost, and labor loss at hospitals by physicians and public informative publications.