Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices in Management of Febrile Illnesses in Children and Patients’ Satisfaction about Doctors’ Communication among Parents who admitted their Children Age between 2 -12 Years Old in Teaching Hospital Peradeniya

Abstract

Background: Fever is a very common febrile illness among children in Sri Lanka. There are no clear guidelines in practice for hospital admission and home management of febrile patients. Doctor-patient communication has a major impact on health care seeking behavior. Objectives: To assess parents‟ knowledge, attitudes, practices and satisfaction about doctors‟ communication in fever management. Methodology: It has two parts. Part-01 is a descriptive cross-sectional study and part–02 is a qualitative study which was carried out among group of parents who have admitted their children (aged 2-12 years) to the Teaching Hospital Peradeniya, Sri Lanka. Minimum sample size for part-01 is 400 and for part-02 is a convenient sampling method (20 interviews). Part-01 is a self-administered questionnaire. Part-02 is an interview guide about doctors‟ communication. For part-01, collected data was tabulated in Microsoft Excel and analyzed by SPSS 25. Descriptive statistics and prevalence were calculated using SPSS 25. For part–02, qualitative data were analyzed by thematic analysis. Interviews with parents were tape recorded. Then transcribed the data and identified the primary codes and secondary codes and the final themes were developed. Results: Among the population 6.3% mothers had good knowledge, 68.8% mothers had average knowledge and 25% of mothers had poor knowledge regarding febrile illnesses. There was an association between mothers‟ educational status and knowledge level (p=0.001). Final themes about doctors‟ communication were: 1. Satisfaction of doctors‟ communication depends on service provider; 2. Doctors‟ communication depends on doctors‟ individual qualities; 3. Doctors‟ communication depends on doctors‟ experience; 4. Sequences of consultation important in doctors‟ communication; 5. Communication depends on level of delivery in information; 6. Communication depends on patients‟ qualities. Conclusions: The levels of knowledge of mothers‟ were satisfactory. Most of the mothers‟ satisfy with doctors‟ communication.