Awareness of Mothers of under Five Year Children Regarding Round Worm Infestation, its Prevention and Management: A Descriptive Analysis

Background: Ascarisis is common during pre-school period from 1-5 years of age when the child begins to lay a more independent life. In India, intestinal parasites are the priority health problem because of unhealthy practice, poor awareness, misbelieve, illiteracy of parents and poverty. Mothers should essentially have the knowledge of early identification and prevention of worm infestation in under five children. So that serious complications associated with intestinal helminthes such as protein energy malnutrition, iron deficiency anemia, and Vitamin A deficiency can be prevented

Materials and Method: The descriptive survey approach was adopted. The population consisted of mothers of under five children in Mysore. Purposive sampling was used to obtain the sample of 100 mothers in selected urban area of Mysore. A two-part questionnaire was used to collect the data. The first part comprised information about mother's age, level of education, occupation, food habits, previous exposure to mass media and health education. The second part contained 30 items about prevention and management of worm infestation

Results: Majority (51%) of mothers belongs to 18 to 25 years of age and majority (45%) of them studied up to high school and majority (93%) were homemakers and their (51%) family income of Rs5000/-, 69% were belongs to mixed dietary habit and majority 93% and 79% had no previous exposure to health education and mass media respectively.

Conclusion: Child care is mostly the responsibility of mothers. The study is undertaken to assess the levels of mothers' knowledge regarding prevention and management of round worm infestation in under five children and to determine whether there is any association between their level of knowledge with age, level of education, occupation, and previous exposure to education information.