OC42 - What do parents know about fever?

Nurs Child Young People. 2016 May 9;28(4):83. doi: 10.7748/ncyp.28.4.83.s73.

Abstract

Theme: Parenting/parenthood.

Introduction: Due to lack of information, the fever in the child brings anxiety and fear to their parents.

Objectives: To identify parents' knowledge towards the child with fever and the sources of information they have used.

Methods: Cross-sectional, descriptive-correlational study. Convenience not probabilistic sample of 360 parents with children in child health surveillance consultation, in central Portugal. Data collection was performed by a questionnaire about fever in children.

Results: Knowledge of the fever was found to be weak among parents aged * 38 years (36.2%) with a partner (77.0%), living in rural areas (69.3%) and having completed the ninth grade (53.9%). Parents up to 37 years (68.2%) with a partner (89.0%), living in urban area (53.0%) and having higher education (43.3%) showed good knowledge. The main sources of information were the doctor (65.8%) and nurses (50.6%).

Conclusion: Nurses need to invest in training parents more on this subject.

Keywords: Children; fever; knowledge; parents..

MeSH terms

  • Child Health Services / statistics & numerical data
  • Child, Preschool
  • Cross-Sectional Studies
  • Female
  • Fever / psychology*
  • Fever / therapy*
  • Health Education / standards*
  • Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice*
  • Health Services Accessibility / standards
  • Humans
  • Infant
  • Male
  • Parents / psychology*
  • Portugal
  • Rural Population