The perceptions of parents about the skin conditions of their children presenting with comorbid fungal skin infections in Francistown, Botswana

BACKGROUND: In 2006, about 50% of the children whose parents brought them to the Francistown City Council clinics in Botswana for consultation had fungal skin infections. Most of these parents did not include the fungal skin conditions in the list of presenting complaints. OBJECTIVE: To explore the perceptions of the parents about the fungal skin conditions of their children. METHOD: Eight participants were purposefully selected amongst the Francistown City Council clinics. They were interviewed, using the same exploratory question: ‘How much do you know about this skin condition?’ The Setswana translation is: ‘O itse go le kae ka bolwetsi jone jo jwa letlalo?’ The interviews were held in the Setswana language and audiotaped. The recordings were transcribed verbatim and translated into English. The ideas that emerged were developed into themes through the ‘cut-and-paste’ method. RESULTS: The following themes emerged: the skin condition was not well-understood, it was perceived to have multiple causes, it was known to be infectious, many home remedies were used to attempt to cure it, it was not serious enough to warrant consultation and it tends to recur. CONCLUSION: Parents who brought their children to the Francistown City Council clinics in Botswana with fungal skin infections (incidentally discovered by the health care practitioners) perceived the skin infections as normal and not serious enough to be mentioned in a consultation. It is recommended that health care practitioners proactively educate parents of children presenting with comorbid fungal skin infections.