Knowledge, Attitudes and Practice of Mothers regarding Antibiotic Uses for their Children in Nablus City

Supervisor :

Dr. mariam Al-Tell

Abstract :

Introduction: The use of antibiotics has become an important issue in the world that caution should be taken when using these antibiotics, the most important issue that result from misuse of antibiotics is antibiotic resistance and other side effects, different studies found that Knowledge, Attitude and Practice (KAP) of mothers might affect antibiotic uses, also other variable such as demographic data may cause antibiotic overuse and lead to other consequences.  

Aim: this study aim  to assess (KAP) of mothers regarding antibiotic  uses. 

Methods: Descriptive analytical quantitative study was conducted using simple random method to select the sample; the sample size was 300 participants selected from primary health care centers, approximately (2025%) of the sample were taken from (UNRWA) centers and the rest of the sample from governmental centers. 

Results: After analyzing the data on SPSS, the result showed that there was a significant relationship between level of knowledge and practice (p-value = 0.00), 51.7% of participants have been evaluated having poor level of knowledge, no significant relationship between level of practice and attitude (p-value=0.637), 72.2% of participants less than 20 years old having poor level of knowledge and the result showed that there is a  significant relationship between level of knowledge and age. Comparing with attitude and other demographic data (place, level of education and income) the results showed that there is no significant relationship between level of knowledge and these variables.  

Conclusion: Knowledge, practice and age affect antibiotic uses and there was association between them, regarding to attitude (60%) of participants have positive attitude and the results showed that attitude didn't affect antibiotic uses. based on this results mothers are in need to increase their awareness and knowledge about antibiotic through health education courses.   

Key word:Antibiotic, Antibiotic uses, KAP, Antibiotic resistance, Antibiotic overuse.