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Parents’ Knowledge of and Attitude toward Acute Otitis Media and Its Treatment in Children: A Survey at Primary Healthcare Centers in the Aseer Region

Background: Acute otitis media (AOM) in children aged 5 years old and younger poses a critical health concern, affecting both the general health of children and the emotional well-being of parents. The objective of this study was to evaluate parental understanding, attitudes, and experiences related...

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Autores principales: AlHefdhi, Hayfa Abdulkhaleq, Al Qout, Maraam Mohammed, Alqahtani, Alhanouf Yahya, Alqahtani, Meshal Mohammed, Asiri, Roaa Mohammed, Alshahrani, Omair Mohammed, Almoghamer, Hanan Delem, Youssef, Naglaa, Ghazy, Ramy Mohamed
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2023
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10528457/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37761534
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/children10091573
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author AlHefdhi, Hayfa Abdulkhaleq
Al Qout, Maraam Mohammed
Alqahtani, Alhanouf Yahya
Alqahtani, Meshal Mohammed
Asiri, Roaa Mohammed
Alshahrani, Omair Mohammed
Almoghamer, Hanan Delem
Youssef, Naglaa
Ghazy, Ramy Mohamed
author_facet AlHefdhi, Hayfa Abdulkhaleq
Al Qout, Maraam Mohammed
Alqahtani, Alhanouf Yahya
Alqahtani, Meshal Mohammed
Asiri, Roaa Mohammed
Alshahrani, Omair Mohammed
Almoghamer, Hanan Delem
Youssef, Naglaa
Ghazy, Ramy Mohamed
author_sort AlHefdhi, Hayfa Abdulkhaleq
collection PubMed
description Background: Acute otitis media (AOM) in children aged 5 years old and younger poses a critical health concern, affecting both the general health of children and the emotional well-being of parents. The objective of this study was to evaluate parental understanding, attitudes, and experiences related to AOM and its management, including the use of antibiotics without physician prescription. Method: A cross-sectional study was carried out during the months of May and June of 2023. To collect data for this study, a validated questionnaire was converted into a Google form and given to parents of children aged 5 years and younger who sought healthcare for their children in primary healthcare centers in Abha city, Aseer region, Saudi Arabia. Results: A total of 406 parents participated in this study, 64.8% of them were women and 45.3% of them were in the age range of 25 to 34 years. The majority (90.1%) resided in urban areas and a significant proportion (72.2%) had a university education. Among the respondents, 22.7% agreed that bacteria are the cause of AOM, while 21.7% agreed that it is caused by viruses. A total of 51.0% acknowledged the need for antibiotics in the management of AOM. In terms of treatment, 84.5% and 83.5% believed that analgesics and antibiotics, respectively, were the most effective for otalgia. A substantial portion, 43.1%, 34.7%, and 37.7%, respectively, believed that antibiotics could reduce pain, relieve fever, and prevent recurrence. Almost three-quarters sought medical advice primarily from paediatricians and 37.7% obtained information about AOM from the Internet. Furthermore, almost a third (28.8%) chose not to wait for the physician’s appointment and immediately administered antibiotics without the physician’s prescription due to concerns about disease progression. Approximately two fifths (38.4%) requested physicians to prescribe antibiotics, a pattern that was in agreement with the actual rate of antibiotic prescriptions (38.4%). Conclusions: A notable deficiency in knowledge and unsafe practices about AOM and its management is evident among parents in the Aseer region. This underscores the pressing need for an educational program aimed at improving parental health literacy regarding otitis media causes and treatments, as well as its preventive measures.
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spelling pubmed-105284572023-09-28 Parents’ Knowledge of and Attitude toward Acute Otitis Media and Its Treatment in Children: A Survey at Primary Healthcare Centers in the Aseer Region AlHefdhi, Hayfa Abdulkhaleq Al Qout, Maraam Mohammed Alqahtani, Alhanouf Yahya Alqahtani, Meshal Mohammed Asiri, Roaa Mohammed Alshahrani, Omair Mohammed Almoghamer, Hanan Delem Youssef, Naglaa Ghazy, Ramy Mohamed Children (Basel) Article Background: Acute otitis media (AOM) in children aged 5 years old and younger poses a critical health concern, affecting both the general health of children and the emotional well-being of parents. The objective of this study was to evaluate parental understanding, attitudes, and experiences related to AOM and its management, including the use of antibiotics without physician prescription. Method: A cross-sectional study was carried out during the months of May and June of 2023. To collect data for this study, a validated questionnaire was converted into a Google form and given to parents of children aged 5 years and younger who sought healthcare for their children in primary healthcare centers in Abha city, Aseer region, Saudi Arabia. Results: A total of 406 parents participated in this study, 64.8% of them were women and 45.3% of them were in the age range of 25 to 34 years. The majority (90.1%) resided in urban areas and a significant proportion (72.2%) had a university education. Among the respondents, 22.7% agreed that bacteria are the cause of AOM, while 21.7% agreed that it is caused by viruses. A total of 51.0% acknowledged the need for antibiotics in the management of AOM. In terms of treatment, 84.5% and 83.5% believed that analgesics and antibiotics, respectively, were the most effective for otalgia. A substantial portion, 43.1%, 34.7%, and 37.7%, respectively, believed that antibiotics could reduce pain, relieve fever, and prevent recurrence. Almost three-quarters sought medical advice primarily from paediatricians and 37.7% obtained information about AOM from the Internet. Furthermore, almost a third (28.8%) chose not to wait for the physician’s appointment and immediately administered antibiotics without the physician’s prescription due to concerns about disease progression. Approximately two fifths (38.4%) requested physicians to prescribe antibiotics, a pattern that was in agreement with the actual rate of antibiotic prescriptions (38.4%). Conclusions: A notable deficiency in knowledge and unsafe practices about AOM and its management is evident among parents in the Aseer region. This underscores the pressing need for an educational program aimed at improving parental health literacy regarding otitis media causes and treatments, as well as its preventive measures. MDPI 2023-09-19 /pmc/articles/PMC10528457/ /pubmed/37761534 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/children10091573 Text en © 2023 by the authors. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
AlHefdhi, Hayfa Abdulkhaleq
Al Qout, Maraam Mohammed
Alqahtani, Alhanouf Yahya
Alqahtani, Meshal Mohammed
Asiri, Roaa Mohammed
Alshahrani, Omair Mohammed
Almoghamer, Hanan Delem
Youssef, Naglaa
Ghazy, Ramy Mohamed
Parents’ Knowledge of and Attitude toward Acute Otitis Media and Its Treatment in Children: A Survey at Primary Healthcare Centers in the Aseer Region
title Parents’ Knowledge of and Attitude toward Acute Otitis Media and Its Treatment in Children: A Survey at Primary Healthcare Centers in the Aseer Region
title_full Parents’ Knowledge of and Attitude toward Acute Otitis Media and Its Treatment in Children: A Survey at Primary Healthcare Centers in the Aseer Region
title_fullStr Parents’ Knowledge of and Attitude toward Acute Otitis Media and Its Treatment in Children: A Survey at Primary Healthcare Centers in the Aseer Region
title_full_unstemmed Parents’ Knowledge of and Attitude toward Acute Otitis Media and Its Treatment in Children: A Survey at Primary Healthcare Centers in the Aseer Region
title_short Parents’ Knowledge of and Attitude toward Acute Otitis Media and Its Treatment in Children: A Survey at Primary Healthcare Centers in the Aseer Region
title_sort parents’ knowledge of and attitude toward acute otitis media and its treatment in children: a survey at primary healthcare centers in the aseer region
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC10528457/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/37761534
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/children10091573
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