Relationships between Childhood Fever Management of Bhutanese Parents and Their Knowledge, Attitude, and Perceived Self-efficacy

Abstract

Objective: To examine parents’ management of childhood fever and its relationships with the knowledge, attitudes, and perceived self-efficacy of Bhutanese parents. Method: A convenience sampling was used to recruit a sample of 80 Bhutanese parents bringing their children with fever to the Pediatric Outpatient Unit of Jigme Dorji Wangchuck National Referral Hospital. Research instruments included 1) demographic record form, 2) parents’ childhood fever management questionnaire, 3) parents’ knowledge questionnaire, 4) parents’ attitude questionnaire, and 5) parents’ perceived self-efficacy scale. The reliabilities of questionnaires 2 - 5 were acceptable, i.e. Cronbach’s alpha coefficients = 0.79, 0.71, 0.88, and 0.86, respectively. Data were collected from March to April 2017 and analyzed using descriptive statistics and Pearson’s correlation. Results: The total mean score of parents’ childhood fever management was 39.51 (SD = 5.59). There were significantly positive relationships between the parents’ childhood fever management and their knowledge, attitudes, and perceived self-efficacy (r = 0.28, 0.24 and 0.24, respectively; P-value < 0.05 for all pairs). Conclusion: There was a room for improvement of the childhood fever management of Bhutanese parents. Healthcare providers, especially nurses, could utilize the findings to develop an intervention or a program to improve and enhance parent’s management of fever in children by focusing on an increase in knowledge, attitude, and perceived self-efficacy. Keywords: childhood fever management, Bhutanese parents, knowledge, attitude, perceived self-efficacy