Mothers' Knowledge and Practice about Conjunctivitis in Early Childhood at Assiut Ophthalmology Hospital

Mohammed, Huda Sayed; Abd-El-Kreme, Hekmat Ibrahim; El-sayh, Khalid Ibrahim

doi:10.21608/asnj.2015.59800

Mothers' Knowledge and Practice about Conjunctivitis in Early Childhood at Assiut Ophthalmology Hospital

Document Type : Original Article

Authors

¹ Nursing specialist at Abnub Secondary Nursing School, Egypt.

² Assistant Professor of Pediatric Nursing, Faculty of Nursing, Assiut University, Egypt.

³ Assistant Professor of pediatric, Faculty of Medicine, Assiut University, Egypt.

10.21608/asnj.2015.59800

Abstract

Conjunctivitis is an inflammation due to infection in the lining over the eyeball and inside the eyelids. Inflammation can cause blood vessels in the eye to become larger; this makes the white of the eye look pink or red. Conjunctivitis is common among children under five years of age. Aims: To assess mothers' knowledge and practice about conjunctivitis in early childhood (< 5 years) at Assuit Ophthalmology Hospital. Design: Descriptive research design was used. Setting: The study was conducted in outpatient clinic at Assuit Ophthalmology Hospital. The Subjects: subject consisted of 200 mothers having children at early childhood (< 5 years) and suffering from conjunctivitis. Results: Results revealed that more than two fifths of them aged 1 - < 3 years. Female constituted 52.0% of the studied children. The majority of mothers lived in rural areas. The vast majority of them had poor knowledge and practice about conjunctivitis at Assuit Ophthalmology Hospital. Conclusions: There were significant relations between mothers' education, occupation, their knowledge and practice regarding early childhood conjunctivitis at Assuit Ophthalmology Hospital. Recommendation: Follow up sheet to every child has conjunctivitis frequently to identify causes of his recurrent infection and prevent it before complications that are avoidable before occurring.

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