Knowledge and Practice of Mothers Regarding Child Safety at Home among Under Five Children and Its Correlation with Sociodemographic Details

Background: Young children are prone for accidental injuries in the home environment and these injuries can be easily prevented by better supervision and improving safety in the home.

Objectives: The aim of the study is to assess the knowledge and practice of mothers regarding child safety in under five children at home and its correlation with sociodemographic details.

Materials and Methods: A cross sectional study conducted in a tertiary care teaching hospital at Kancheepuram. The duration of the study was 2 months. Mothers with at least one child under 5 years of age who visited the pediatrics outpatient department during the study period were included in the study. The sample size was 160. After obtaining approval from the institutional review board (approval no SMC/IEC/2021/03/046) a self designed and validated questionnaire was administered to the participants after obtaining consent. The data was entered into an excel sheet and analysed using SPSS 24.

Results: A total of 160 mothers of under five children who visited the outpatient department of pediatrics during the study period were included in the study. The mean age of mothers was 25 years. 73.12% of mothers who participated in the study had adequate knowledge about child safety at home and 53.12% mothers had adequate practice. The association of knowledge towards child safety at home and mothers’ education was statistically significant (P = 0.006). Graduate mothers were found to have more knowledge regarding child safety at home among under five children than mothers educated upto middle school and high school. The association of practice towards child safety and type of family was found to be statistically significant (P = 0.016). Mothers belonging to joint families were found to have better practices towards child safety than mothers belonging to nuclear and three generation families. 65% of the mothers stated that their child has suffered from home injuries earlier including minor and major injuries. 41.8% of mothers said that they have a first aid kit at home.

Conclusion: Although most of the mothers had adequate knowledge towards child safety at home among under five children, half of the mothers lacked adequate practice towards child safety. Hence it is essential to counsel and educate mothers to improve practices at home that would be beneficial in improving child safety.