TABLE OF CONTENTS
DEDICATION.................................................................................................................................... III
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT...................................................................................................................IV
ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS ............................................................................................V
DEFINITION OF TERMS.................................................................................................................VI
TABLE OF CONTENTS..................................................................................................................VII
LIST OF TABLES...............................................................................................................................XI
LIST OF FIGURES...........................................................................................................................XII
ABSTRACT......................................................................................................................................XIII
CHAPTER ONE................................................................................................................................... 1
INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................... 1
1.1 BACKGROUND............................................................................................................................ 1
1.1.1 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND .............................................................................................. 1
1.1.2 THEORETICAL BACKGROUND .......................................................................................... 1
1.1.3 CONCEPTUAL BACKGROUND............................................................................................ 1
1.1.4 CONTEXTUAL BACKGROUND............................................................................................ 1
1.2 PROBLEM STATEMENT .......................................................................................................... 2
1.3 OBJECTIVE OF THE STUDY.................................................................................................... 2
1.3.1 GENERAL OBJECTIVE........................................................................................................... 2
1.3.2 SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES.......................................................................................................... 2
viii
1.4 RESEARCH QUESTIONS........................................................................................................... 2
1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY.............................................................................................. 3
1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY............................................................................................................. 3
1.6.1 GEOGRAPHICAL SCOPE....................................................................................................... 3
1.6.2 CONTENT SCOPE ................................................................................................................... 4
1.6.3 TIME SCOPE ............................................................................................................................ 4
1.7 CONCEPTUAL FRAME WORK................................................................................................ 4
CHAPTER TWO................................................................................................................................. 4
LITERATURE REVIEW.................................................................................................................... 4
2.1 EPIDEMIOLOGY OF ORAL REHYDRATION THERAPY................................................... 5
2.2 RESPONSE TO CHILDHOOD DIARRHEA............................................................................ 5
2.4 ATTITUDES TOWARDS ORT ................................................................................................. 6
2.5 PRACTICE OF ORT.................................................................................................................... 6
2.6 BARRIERS TO ORT ................................................................................................................... 7
CHAPTER THREE ............................................................................................................................. 9
METHODOLOGY ............................................................................................................................... 9
3.0 INTRODUCTION ........................................................................................................................ 9
3.1 STUDY DESIGN........................................................................................................................... 9
3.2 STUDY POPULATION............................................................................................................... 9
3.2.1 INCLUSION CRITERIA .......................................................................................................... 9
3.2.2 EXCLUSION CRITERIA.......................................................................................................... 9
ix
3.3 SAMPLING SIZE DETERMINATION...................................................................................... 9
3.4 SAMPLING TECHNIQUE .......................................................................................................... 9
3.5 DATA COLLECTION METHOD .............................................................................................10
3. 6 QUALITY CONTROL...............................................................................................................10
3.7 DATA ENTRY AND ANALYSIS..............................................................................................10
3.8 ETHICAL CONSIDERATIONS................................................................................................10
CHAPTERFOUR...............................................................................................................................12
DATAPRESENTATIONANDANALYSIS......................................................................................12
4.0 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................12
4.1 SOCIO-DEMOGRAPHIC PROFILE OF RESPONDENTS ..................................................12
4.2 KNOWLEDGE OF ORAL REHYDRATION THERAPY......................................................14
4.3 HOME MANAGEMENT OF DIARRHEA ..............................................................................16
CHAPTER FIVE:...............................................................................................................................18
DISCUSSION OF RESULTS CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS..........................18
5.0 INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................18
5.1 DISCUSSION..............................................................................................................................18
5.1.2 RESPONDENTS’ ATTITUDE OF ORAL REHYDRATION THERAPY........................18
5.1.3 RESPONDENTS’ PRACTICES OF ORAL REHYDRATION THERAPY.......................19
5.2 CONCLUSIONS..........................................................................................................................20
5.3 RECOMMENDATIONS ............................................................................................................20
REFERENCES....................................................................................................................................21
ABSTRACT Background: In Uganda, diarrhea is the second killer of children after malaria. Uganda’s diarrhea prevalence rate in children under five was 26% (WHO 2013). This study was designed to assess the knowledge, attitudes and practices of mothers /caregivers regarding oral rehydration therapy at Ishaka Adventist Hospital, Bushenyi district, Uganda. Method: A simple random sampling technique was used to select 100 mothers of under-five children. A validated semi-structured questionnaire was used for data collection. The questionnaire included 16-point ORT knowledge scales. ORT/SSS knowledge scores of 0-5, >5-10 and >10- 16 were considered poor, fair and good, respectively. Results: The age of respondents was 29.8±5.5 years. Their main occupations are petty-trading (43%), full-time “housewives” (36%) and artisanship (13%). Most respondents (98%) were aware of ORT, 95% correctly stated the composition of ORS and 44% were able to state the correct proportions of sugar, salt, and water in ORS. Respondents’ sources of information about ORT included health personnel (79%), relatives (11%) and television (6%). Majority (80%) of respondents reported that their children) had diarrhoea within the three months preceding the study and the home treatment given included use of ORT (50%); others gave and native medicine (19%). Seventy per cent of respondents stated that they could prepare ORS, but 73% preferred taking children with diarrhoea to the hospital instead of using ORS. Conclusion: Knowledge about oral rehydration therapy was high among respondents, but their use of oral rehydration was low. Recommendation: Training, public enlightenment and social marketing strategies are needed to promote the use of oral rehydration therapy among mothers of under-five children.
