Mothers ‘Knowledge Versus Their Practices Toward COVID -19 Pandemic Among Children .

The Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) has a rapidly growing pandemic involving several nations. It is one of serious concern and extreme challenge not only to the health personnel but also to the countries for containment. Thus, the pediatric nurse play a crucial role in the COVID-19 pandemic, graduate from prevention, assessment, intervention, health education, vaccination till caring of critical ill patient. Objective: Determine the mothers’ knowledge versus their practices toward COVID -19 pandemic among children. Design: A descriptive research design was used to accomplish this study. Setting: The study was carried out in the pediatrics Out Patient Clinic at Alexandria University Children Hospital at El- Shatby and El-Hammam Central Hospital Matrouh Governorate. Subjects: A convenient sample of 400 mothers having children aged from 6-12 years was comprised the study subjects. Tools: Two tools were used for data collection. Tool I: Mothers ‘Knowledge about COVID -19 Pandemic among Children. Tool II: Mothers’ Application of Precautions Measures toward COVID -19 Pandemic Observational Checklists. Results: It was observed that more than one third of mothers had 30 to less than 40 years (34.8%) and 32.0% of them had 40 years and more with mean± SD age 35.22 ± 9.906. Regarding the level of education, one third of mothers (33.5%) were illiterate and 30.0% of them had secondary/technical education, while,13% only of mothers had university education, Furthermore, small percent of mothers had poor level of knowledge (16.0%) while, more than half of mothers (56.3%) had fair level of knowledge and more than one quarter of them had good level of knowledge about COVID-19(27.7%). It was also found that the majority of mothers who had fair and good knowledge (80.5%) about half of them had good level of practices (44.3%). Conclusion: The majority of mothers who had fair and good knowledge about half of them had good level of practice. Mothers’ knowledge was significantly associated with their proper practices. Recommendations: Implementing counseling programs about COVID-19 for mothers to improve their awareness about the disease manifestations, complications and proper management approaches. In addition, educating mothers about the COVID-19 process through mass media and providing manual booklet involving updated guidelines about COVID-19 modes of transmission, manifestations, and safety precautions.