Medical Science
Volume 25, Issue 107, January, 2021
Level of parents’ knowledge and practice in management of their children’s febrile illness, in Al Baha City, Saudi Arabia
Omer M Aburaida1, Ahmed A Alzaidi2, Khaled A Alzahrani2♦, Tareq M Alzahrani2, Abdulelah M Alghamdi2
1Pediatrics department, College of medicine, Al-Baha University, Albaha city, Saudi Arabia
2Medical intern, Faculty of medicine, Al-Baha University, Saudi Arabia
♦Corresponding author
Medical intern, Faculty of medicine, Al-Baha University,
Saudi Arabia;
Email: Khaledcooo.sa@gmail.com
ABSTRACT
Studies found that most of the parents were uncertain about the use of antibiotics for children’s fever. This study aimed to evaluate
knowledge and practice of parents in child fever management in Al Baha City, Saudi Arabia. A cross-sectional study was done on 431
participants using an electronic questionnaire including items about participants’ knowledge of fever and its health effects, practice
in fever management, how to measure temperature, fever treatment given without prescription, when to decide to visit the health
providers, difficulty faced when giving medication, parents’ concerns about fever. 9% of parents had history of child febrile, 92.8%
and 93.3% knew normal temperature and truly defined fever respectively, 96% thought fever is harmful, 39.4% thought that they
had enough information about fever, and 91.4%, 82.6%, 86.3%, and 87.9%, thought that febrile convulsion, loss of consciousness,
dehydration, brain damage were the most common concerns respectively. About 88% of parents use a thermometer for fever, 89.6%
apply cold compressions and 93.5% decide to take the child to hospital due to high fever. The most common difficulty faced in
giving fever medicine was deciding the amount and frequency of dosing. Mothers and parents with 36-45 years had a significantly
higher percentage of those thought fever may be useful and mothers with a university education were significantly afraid of febrile
convulsions and brain damage. There is a need to raise awareness of parents about the right management of children as wrong
concerns can make them fail to act properly.
Keywords: parents, knowledge, practice, febrile, illness, Al Baha, fever, paediatrics, pyrexia
Medical Science, 2021, 25(107), 135-145
