Mothers' management of fever of children in Sabzevar

Abstract

Background and Purpose: Fever is one of the most frequent disease symptoms and a common cause of emergency admissions ininfants and children. Considering the alarming nature of fever and pivotal role of mothers in the management of this symptom inchildren, this study aimed to evaluate the ability of fever management among mothers in Sabzevar city, Iran.Materials and Methods: This cross-sectional study was conducted on 340 mothers with children aged less than 10 years referringto the healthcare centers of Sabzevar city, Iran in 2014. Data were collected using prepared checklists to assess the performance andability of mothers in the management of fever. Data analysis was performed in SPSS V.20 using descriptive statistics, Mann-WhitneyU test, and Kruskal-Wallis test.Results: In this study, mean score of fever management was 4.65±1.64, and 20.9% of the mothers used antipyretic drugs at the bodytemperature of 38°C to control the fever of children. In addition, 83.7% of the mothers used antipyretics during the night by waking thechildren. Our findings were indicative of a significant association between fever management and maternal age (P=0.048), educationlevel (P=0.002), employment status (P