Knowledge and Practice in Fever Management of Mothers with Children Under the Age of Five

Aim: The aim of this study was to evaluate the knowledge and practice in fever management of mothers with children under the age of Ş ve years old. Methods: This descriptive study was performed in a state hospital from September 2015 to February 2016. The sample comprised 180 mothers with children under the age of Ş ve who were admitted to the pediatric clinics for any reason and were accepted to participate in the study. Data were collected by a questionnaire prepared by the researcher. The questionnaire was conducted in face-to-face interviews and was took about 10-15 minutes. Data were analyzed in the computer-based SPSS program using numbers, percentiles and chi-square tests. Results: The average age of mothers in the study was 30.03±5.25, 42.8% of them were high school graduates, 86.7% of them had a nuclear family, 85.0% of them had social security, and 70.6% of them assessed their income status as middle. The average age of the children was 3.12±1.41. The mothers stated that 88.3% of the children had a fever at least once in the previous year. Also, 87.2% of mothers stated they had special thermometers for their children at home, 96.7% of them stated they could measure the fever of children with thermometer and 70.7% of them stated that “a fever is a body temperature of 38° degrees or above”. There were statistically signiŞ cant differences between mothers’ education, employment status and family type and the method to determine fever. Conclusion: According to the Ş ndings, it was seen that mothers have insufŞ cient knowledge and practice related to fever management and they need to receive more education and counselling