A Cross Sectional Survey of Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Antibiotic Use for Children in Chennai among Mothers

Background and Aim: Mothers play a vital role in providing antibiotics to their children since they are too often affected with infections. Hence, the purpose of this study to assess the knowledge, attitude and practice towards antibiotic use of children in Chennai among mothers.

Materials and Methods: A cross sectional survey was conducted among mothers of 250 participants. A questionnaire based online survey was conducted and distributed through the survey planet. The data were collected and tabulated in Microsoft Excel sheets which were transferred to SPSS Version 20 for statistical analysis. Chi square test was performed to check for association between variables.

Results: About 71.3% of the mothers are not aware that antibiotic resistance is a worldwide problem and 53.3% are paying attention to the expiry date of antibiotics and also 59.3% of the respondents give higher doses of antibiotics to their child than what doctor’s prescribed. 44% of them are providing antibiotics prescribed by local pharmacists without any doctor's prescription. A highly significant association was seen in mothers with monthly income of <30000 rupees do not prefer expensive antibiotics compared to monthly income of >30000 rupees (Chi square test; p<0.001, statistically significant).

Conclusion: The study concluded that the mother’s limited knowledge about antibiotics. Hence it is important to facilitate multilevel parent’s education programs regarding antibiotic usage and create awareness about the complications of misconceptions of antibiotics.