Parent's knowledge on fever management in children / Nabilahuda Syazwani Yunus

Fever is a common problem extremely occurs in childhood but, it is actually a sign or symptom that the body is defending it against the invasion of infection. The purpose of this study is to evaluate parent's knowledge on fever management in children. This cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted in two population of community of Meru and Setia Alam. The questionnaire consists of 3 parts in Malay and English language. It consists of 13 items of demographic background and previous experiences for part A, 26 items of fever in children for part B and 8 items of fever management in children for part C. Starting from January to May 2013, a total of 142 questionnaires were distributed to this population to obtain information regarding their knowledge on fever management in children. Majority of the respondent was female (80.3%), Malay about (76.8%), not involve in learning or workings in the area of healthcare (82.4%), worked full time in government sector (52.8%), had a degree (31.7%), were in the age range of20-29 (64.8%), had income of RM 1000-RM 2999 (35.9%), had febrile children with age around 1-5 years old (71.1 % ) and last experienced having febrile child less than 1 month ago ( 46.5% ). There were significant differences between parent's basic knowledge on fever with gender, parent's knowledge on harmful effect of fever with highest education level, parent's knowledge on temperature check with number of children and parent's knowledge on signs and symptoms of fever with age of febrile children. In conclusion, almost half of respondents have good knowledge on fever management in children.