Knowledge and Practices Regarding Antibiotics and Antibiotic Resistance of Mothers with Pre-school Children in Selected Child Welfare Clinics of Piliyandala MOH area

Abstract

Antibiotic resistance is now deemed a global crisis. The misuse of antibiotics is the main reason which causes antibiotic resistance. Mothers play an important role in the proper usage of antibiotics for their children during bouts of illness. This descriptive cross-sectional study aimed to assess the knowledge and practices regarding the usage of antibiotics and antibiotic resistance among mothers with preschool children, attending selected Child Welfare Clinics in the Piliyandala MOH area, and to find out the association between knowledge and practices regarding antibiotic usage and antibiotic resistance with their level of education. Data was collected from 255 mothers using a pretested interviewer-administered questionnaire. Analysis revealed that majority have heard the word antibiotics (n = 173, 67.84%) and few of them (n = 52, 20.39%) have heard about antibiotic resistance. Most of the participants (52%) did not know that antibiotic misuse would lead to antibiotic resistance. The assessment of knowledge revealed that approximately two-thirds (69.41%) of respondents had a poor level of knowledge. Meanwhile, there were only 23.92% and 6.67% of participants with moderate and high levels of knowledge respectively. Also, it revealed that a majority of participants (95%) had bad practices. Furthermore, it revealed a significant association between the level of education with the level of knowledge (p < 0.001) and practices (p<0.01) regarding antibiotic usage and antibiotic resistance. It was concluded that most mothers had poor knowledge and practice regarding antibiotic usage and antibiotic resistance. Educating the public is required to remedy this situation.