Abstract:
Background: Worldwide, about 480,000 children die annually from diarrhoea despite
availability of simple effective treatment. According to UNICEF and WHO diarrhoea can be
controlled by home-based management with Oral Rehydration Therapy. Therefore, it is
important to determine the awareness of the mothers regarding home-based management of
diarrhoea.
Objectives: To determine the awareness of mothers who have chidren under five years about
diarrheal diseases, symptoms, symptoms of dehydration and awareness about the practices of
home based management of childhood diarrhoea
Methods: A descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted with 130 mothers who have
children under 5 years of age in Kurunegala district using a self-administered questionnaire
which was available in both Sinhala and English languages. Convenient sampling technique
was used as the sampling method. Data were analyzed using Microsoft Excel and SPSS
version 22.
Results: Almost all the participants had heard about diarrhoea (98.4%) and 93% of respodents
had the idea that diarrhoea is passing watery stools while 72.1% had responded for abdominal
pain and 26.4% for fever. Dehydration is considered as the most severe stage of diarrhoea,
74.6% had selected dry mouth as a symptom of dehydration while 40.5% and 23% had
selected cracked lips and urinating less frequently respectively. Only 6.3% and 1.6% had
chosen more salivation and hyperactivity respectively. The aspects to analyse the
understanding of the practices related to home-based management of childhood diarrhoea
revealed that only 56% had selected the response to administer oral rehydration solution (ORS)
always. About the fact that a prepared ORS can be used for only 24 hours, 69.8% had selected
the correct answer.
Conclusions: Mothers need more knowledge and awareness about the symptoms of diarrhoea
and dehydration as well as practices of management and proper handling of ORS.
