S M D R Samarakoon, P A M T Polpitiya, S P P I M N D Paramanayaka, T H K P Apasara, H M P Herath and G Jayatilaka
General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University, Sri Lanka
Scientific Tracks Abstracts: Primary Health Care
Foreign Body Aspiration (FBA) is a common cause of respiratory emergency in early childhood and is associated with a high rate of airway distress. FBA peaks at the age of 1-2 years. Many cases of FBA can be preventable yet one of the main risk factors for FBA is a lack of knowledge regarding FBA of caregivers of children. It has been emphasized that public awareness should be increased. Less awareness of parents regarding risk items, risk factors, prevention methods, delay in identifying signs and symptoms of sudden FBA, and less awareness of First Aid Management are the major factors placing children at higher risk for FBA. The primary aim is to evaluate knowledge among parents in Dehiwala- Ratmalana Medical Officer of Health (MOH) areas on FBA (i.e. the high risk items, risks factors), secondly to assess parental ability to recognize FBA, evaluate parental knowledge on implementing the first aid management and prevention of Foreign Body Aspiration. To find out whether there is any correlation with parental knowledge on FBA and parental level of education. Simple random sampling method was used regardless of parity, attending routine Child Welfare Clinics (CWCs) during working day mornings and afternoons across the 12 CWCs in Dehiwala and Ratmalana MOH areas. An interviewer administered questionnaire was used to collect the data from 384 fathers, mothers and primary care givers (guardians) who had a child of age 1-5 years. Among 384 parents who participated in the study, 99 cases had a history of FBA with the highest incidence amongst the 1-2 year age group. The overall knowledge of the parents on FBA was average 226 (58.9%); similarly parental knowledge on prevention was also average 291 (75.8%), while the majority had a good knowledge on first aid management 230 (59.9%). The majority of parents had shown a good awareness on risk factors related to FBA as well. As per the results the most parents in this sample had either a good or average knowledge on the risk factors, recognition, prevention and treatment of FBA. In this study population parental overall knowledge on FBA was average. Their knowledge was mainly acquired from community midwives. There was no association between education levels with awareness of risk of FBA, awareness of recognition, awareness of prevention, and awareness of first aid management. Similarly a significant relationship was not found in between education and over all awareness on FBA.
S M D R Samarakoon completed her graduation at General Sir John Kotelawala Defence University, Sri Lanka and now she is working as Faculty of Allied Health Sciences in Department of Nursing & Midwifery.
