INTRODUCTION:

Today’s Children are the citizens of tomorrow. Children need a very much safe and healthy world. So it is necessary to safeguard their environment. Home accidents are the main cause of mortality and morbidity in early childhood and a major factor in loss of productive life. Public health experts have created the term “Modern Day Epidemics” for domestic accidents. Children are especially at risk for injury because of their normal curiosity, impulsiveness and desire to master new skills. Also, children try to imitate adult behaviour from an early age. Under-five children are at high risk for many accidents such as burn and fall¹.Studies in four low-income countries found that 65% of childhood burns had occurred in and around home. WHO’s report about childhood injuries stated that, injuries among under-five children increase with age between one to five years².

According to data released by the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention more than 12% of injury related deaths in the 0-5 age group in the India result from home accidents. For children less than 1 year of age, two–thirds of injury deaths were due to suffocation. Drowning was the leading cause injury death for those 1 to 4 years of age.³In 2019 an estimated 5.2 million children under 5 years died mostly from preventable and treatable causes. Children aged 1 to 11 months accounted for 1.5 million of these deaths while children aged 1 to 4 years accounted for 1.3 million deaths. Newborns (under 28 days) accounted for the remaining 2.4 million deaths⁴

Background and need of tha study:

A descriptive cross-sectional study aimed to find out Awareness and Practice of Mothers having Under-five children regarding Prevention of Childhood Accident was conducted in Nepal. The study findings revealed that more than half of the respondents 68.4% had fair knowledge and more than one fourth (31.6%) of the respondent had good knowledge score regarding Prevention of Childhood Accident. Similarly, more than half (59.2%) of the respondent had satisfactory practice. The study concluded that there was need among mothers about educational programs related to prevention of accidents.⁵

A pre-experimental one group pre-test design study was conducted in Belgaum, India to access the knowledge of mother of toddler regarding prevention of household injuries and to evaluate the effectiveness of structured teaching programme (STP) on knowledge regarding prevention of household injuries. Thirty mothers were selected using purposive sampling technique. Data was collected using structured knowledge questionnaire. Finding of the study revealed that in the pre-test 8(27) had poor knowledge where as in post test none of the sampling had poor knowledge and in the pre-test 16 (53%) had average knowledge. In the pre-test 6 (20%) had good knowledge in post-test 7 (27%) had good knowledge. The mean post test score (26) was higher than the mean pre-test knowledge score which provides that STP was effective method in improving the knowledge of mothers.⁶

A descriptive study was conducted to assess the knowledge on prevention of home accidents among mothers of under-five children in selected community areas of Gurugram. Non-probability purposive sampling technique was used to select 100 mothers of under-five children of community area of Gurugram. The mean knowledge score for sample were 13.363 and median were 14 and standard deviations were ± 2.7708. The study revealed that mothers of under-five children had some knowledge regarding prevention of home accidents.⁷ The incidence of home accidents is increasing in India hence the knowledge and practice of mother is essential for understanding measures to prevent them.

Statement of the problem:

A study to assess the knowledge regarding the prevention of home accidents among the mothers of under-five children in a selected community, Mangalore

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:

1. To assess the knowledge of mothers regarding prevention of home accidents.

2. To find association between the knowledge score of mothers and selected demographic variables.

HYPOTHESIS:

The following hypothesis will be tested at 0.05 level of significance:

H₁: There is significant relationship between the knowledge of mothers of under-five children regarding prevention of home accidents with selected demographic variables.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

Research approach:

A quantitative research approach was adopted for this study.

Research design:

Descriptive research design was used.

Research setting:

The study was conducted in Valachil community under Valachil PHC, Mangalore

Population:

Population of the study consisted of mothers of under-five children residing in a selected Valachil community, Mangalore.

Sample:

The sample consisted of 50 mothers of under-five children residing in a Valachil community, Mangalore.

Sampling technique:

Non-probability convenience sampling technique was used.

Description of the final tools:

The tool used in the study consisted of 2 parts

Part 1: Socio Demographic proforma

Part 2: Structured knowledge questionnaire.

Plan for data analysis:

Data analysis is the systemic organization and synthesis of the research data and testing of research hypothesis using the data.

Data was planned to be analysed on the basis of objectives and hypothesis.

1. Demographic data would be analysed in terms of frequency and percentage.

2. Knowledge level of mothers of underfive children would be analysed in terms of frequency, percentage, mean, median, and standard deviation.

3. Chi-square test will be used to find the association between pre-test knowledge score and demographic variables.

RESULTS:

Section I: Description of sample characteristics

Organisation of the findings

The data collected is analysed and presented under the following headings:

Section I: Description of demographic characteristics of the mothers of under five children

Section II: Assessment of Knowledge of the mothers of under five children regarding prevention of home accidents.

Section III: Association between the knowledge score of mothers of under five children on prevention of home accidents with selected demographic variables

Section I: Description of demographic characteristics of the mothers of under five children

Table 1: Frequency and Percentage distribution of samples n=50

Sl. No.	Variables	Frequency	Percentage
1.	Age in years
	19-24	14	28.0
	25-31	17	34.0
	32-37	19	38.0
2.	Religion
	Hindu	6	12.0
	Muslim	23	46.0
	Christian	21	42.0
3.	Type of family
	Nuclear	20	40.0
	Joint	18	36.0
	Extended	12	24.0
4.	Number of children below 5 years of age
	One	25	50.0
	Two	15	30.0
	Three	10	20.0
5.	Education of the mother
	Primary	19	38.0
	Secondary	12	24.0
	Pre-university	8	16.0
	Undergraduate	11	22.0
6.	Whether your child met with any type of accident?
	Yes	5	10.0
	No	45	90.0

Section II: Knowledge of the mothers of under five children on prevention of home accidents

Part A: Assessment of the level of knowledge

Knowledge level of 50 mothers of under five children was assessed using structured knowledge questionnaire and is presented in Table 3.

Table 2: Percentage and frequency distribution of the level of knowledge of mothers of under five children

Level of knowledge	Range of score	% of score	Frequency	%
Inadequate	0-9	0-36	22	44
Moderate	10-18	37-72	26	52
Adequate	19-25	73-100	2	4

The data given in Table 2 shows that majority (52%) of the respondents had moderate knowledge, only a few (4%) had adequate knowledge and only 44% had inadequate knowledge on prevention of home accidents.

Table 3: Mean, Median and Standard Deviation percentage of knowledge regarding prevention of home accidents among mothers of under five children n = 50

Domain	Max. score	Min. score	Range	Mean	SD	Mean %
Knowledge	19	3	16	10.52	±4.24	42.08

Table 3 shows mean, standard deviation, mean score percentage of knowledge regarding prevention of home accidents among mothers of under five children. The maximum score of knowledge is about 19 minimum score is 3 range 16, mean 10.52, standard deviation 4.24 and the mean percentage is 42.08%.

Section III: Association between the knowledge score of mothers of under five children on prevention of home accidents with selected demographic variables

Association between knowledge scores and selected variables:

To test the association between knowledge scores and selected demographic variables, the following null hypothesis was formulated:

H₀₁: There will be no significant association between the knowledge score of adults and the selected baseline variables.

Table 4: Chi-square value between level of Knowledge and Selected Variables n=50

^{Sl. No.}	^Variables	^{Knowledge score}		^c^{2 value}	^Inference
^{Sl. No.}	^Variables	^{≤ median}	^{> median}	^c^{2 value}	^Inference
^1.	^Age
	⁸	⁶	⁸	^1.093
	¹²	⁵	¹²		^NS
	¹⁴	⁵	¹⁴
^2.	^Religion
	^Hindu	⁵	¹	^2.155
	^Muslim	¹⁷	⁶		^NS
	^Christian	¹²	⁹
^3.	^{Type of family}
	^Nuclear	¹⁶	⁴	^2.614
	^Joint	¹⁰	⁸		^NS
	^Extended	⁸	⁴
^4.	^{Number of children below 5 years of age}
	^One	¹⁶	⁹	^.398
	^Two	¹¹	⁴		^NS
	^Three	⁷	³
^5.	^{Education of the mother}
	^Primary	¹⁴	⁵	^1.840
	^Secondary	⁹	³
	^{Pre-university}	⁴	⁴		^NS
	^{Undergraduate}	⁷	⁴
^6.	^{Whether your child met with any type of accident?}
	^Yes	⁴	¹	^.368	^NS
	^No	³⁰	¹⁵	^.368

Table value: ^χ2₁^=3.84,
χ2₂^{=5.99, χ2}₃^{=7.815;
P<0.05}

^{NS–Not Significant}

The data in Table 4 shows the chi-square value computed between the level of knowledge and selected demographic variables, i.e., age (c²₂=1.093) Religion (c²₂=2.155), Type of family (c²₂=2.614), number of children below 5 years of age (c²₂=.398) educational status (c²₃=1.840) of the mothers and whether the child met with any type of accidents (c²₁=.368) not significant at 0.05 level. Thus, it can be interpreted that there was no significant association between knowledge of mothers of under five children and selected variables. Therefore, the null hypothesis (H₀₁) was accepted and research hypothesis was rejected.

DISCUSSION:

The findings of the present study revealed that majority (38%) of samples were between the age group of32- 37 years, majority (46%) of samples were Muslims, majority (40%) of samples belonged to nuclear family, majority (50%) of samples were having one child, majority (38%) of samples were having primary education, majority (90%) percentage of children had not met with any home accidents. The present study showed majority (54%) of the respondents had moderate knowledge, 44% had adequate knowledge, least (4%) had inadequate knowledge. There was no significant association between knowledge of mothers of under-five children and selected variables such as age, religion, type of family, number of children below 5 years of age, whether the child met with any type of accidents.

A study done in India also showed similar results that the majority (91%) of respondents were in the age group 20- 35 years. Among all families, 65.0% were from Muslim rest 35.0% were from Hindu families. But majority of the children (55.0%) belong to joint families and 57 (35.6%) children did not have any history of domestic injury in past one month.⁸

A study conducted in India showed similar findings as average knowledge was found by 56% of mothers, whereas 32% had good knowledge, 7% had poor knowledge, 4% mothers had excellent knowledge and only 1% of mothers had very poor knowledge regarding prevention of home accidents⁹.

The findings of the present study are contradicting the results of another study which showed significant association between mothers age, education, occupation, socio economic status, type of family and knowledge regarding first aid management (p<0.05).¹⁰

CONCLUSIONS:

The assessment of the knowledge among mothers of under-five children on prevention of home accidents revealed that majority (54%) of the respondents had moderate knowledge, 44% had adequate knowledge, least (4%) had inadequate knowledge. The assessment of the association of knowledge among mothers with selected baseline variables revealed that there is an association between knowledge and the selected baseline variables. Educating the mothers is necessary to take adequate precautions to prevent home accidents among under five children.

LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY:

· Only one of the factors, i.e., knowledge on prevention home accidents was assessed.

· A structured questionnaire was used to collect information on knowledge regarding prevention of home accidents; the responses were, therefore restricted.

· No attempt was made to follow-up to measure the gain of knowledge after the collection data.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

Based on the findings of the present study, following recommendations are offered for further researchers:

· The study can be replicated among urban mothers also.

· A comparative study can be conducted to assess the knowledge under-five rural mother and urban mother.

· A large-scale study needs to be carried out to generalise the findings.

· A planned teaching program can be conducted to improve the knowledge of mothers on prevention of home accidents.

REFERENCES:

1. Khan S, Tauheed N, Nawab S, Afzal S, Khalique N. Domestic accidents among under-5 year children: a study on the modern day epidemic. Int J Community Med Public Health 2019; 6: 1529-35.

2. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/burns

3. https://www.cdc.gov/safechild/child_injury_data.html

4. https://www.cdc.gov/safechild/child_injury_data.html

5. Adhikari B, Bhattarai S, Gauro P, Mishra R. Awareness and practice of mother having under-five children regarding prevention of childhood accidents. International Journal of Health Sciences and Research.

6. Kole, Devulkar. A study to assess the effectiveness of structured teaching program on knowledge regarding prevention of household injuries among the mothers of toddlers in selected village of Belgaum.

7. Sandhu A, Singh Rana H. A descriptive study to assess the knowledge on prevention of home accidents among mothers of under-five children in selected community areas of Gurugram (Haryana). International Journal of Advance Research in Nursing. 2020; 3(2): 87-90

8. Khan S, Tauheed N, Nawab S, Afzal S, Khalique N. Domestic accidents among under-5 year children: a study on the modern day epidemic. Int J Community Med Public Health 2019; 6: 1529-35.

9. Surendra S. Assess the knowledge and attitude of mother regarding prevention of home accidents among under 5years children in selected hospital, Punjab. International Journal in Management and Social Science. 2016; 4(6): 248-53.

10. Hema VH, Dillibabu M. A descriptive study to assess the level of knowledge regarding first aid management of domestic accidents among mothers of under-five children and safety practices at home in rural village, Chennai. International Journal of Nursing and Patient Safety and Care. 2016; l(1): 31-

Received on 18.07.2021 Modified on 31.07.2021

Int. J. of Advances in Nur. Management. 2021; 9(4):408-412.

DOI: 10.52711/2454-2652.2021.00094