Parental Perception of Fever in Children

Abstract

Back ground : Fever is a common medical problem in
children. parents have been shown unrealistic fears of
harmful effects of fever in their children. Resulting in
inappropriate management of fever in their children.
Objective: the objective of this study was to survey
parents about their knowledge andattitude concerning fever
in their children.
Methods : The study involved random selection of
parents who brought their febrile children to emergency
department or out-patient clinics of five teaching and non
teaching hospitals in Baghdad from first of October to end
of December 2002.
Parents of 400 febrile children were interviewed using a
standard questionnaire to obtain sociodemographic
information and current knowledge of fever.
Results: Approximately 69% of the respondents were
female, 68% their age was in the range of 21-35 years.
Seventy seven percent of parents had two or more children.
More than 70% of parents demonstrated a poor
understanding of definition of fever , maximum
temperature of untreated fever and threshold temperature
requiring antipyretics . Twenty sevev percent of parents
considered temperature less than 38.0 c
o
to be fever,
another 27% did not know, the definition of fever, 61% felt
that temperature of less than 40,0 c
o
could be dangerous to
a child, and 27% could not define high fever. Another 28%
believed that if left untreated, temperature could rise to
42.0 c
o
or higher, but 39% could not provide an answer,
and about 60% did not know the minimum temperature for
administering antipyretics. And 60% did not know the
minimum temperature for bathing , or sponging.
Approximately 93% of parents demonstrated fear of
consequent body damage from fever , including convulsion
,brain damage ,coma, blindness and even death.
Conclusion: parental misconception about fever reflects
the lack of active health education. Health professionals
have apparently not done enough to educate parents on this
common medical problem and it,
s consequences