IADR Abstract Archives
Knowledge, Attitude and Practices of Nursing Mothers Towards the Oral Health of Their Infants.
Objectives: To assess the knowledge and attitude, evaluate the practices and determine the association between knowledge and practices of nursing mothers towards the oral health of their infants in Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Lagos, Nigeria.
Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study design was adopted for this study. Data collection done using a structured self-administered questionnaire. Data were analysed using Epi info version 7.2.5. A p value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Results: A total of 97 nursing mothers participated in the study. On knowledge, only 14.58% think night feeding predisposes to tooth decay. 65.93% don’t know the importance of fluoridated toothpastes nor 62.89% its function. Only 27.08% are aware that teething does not cause fever. About attitude, 95.88% agree that cleaning their child’s mouth is important and 88.66% agree it should be done by mothers. A total of 86.45% agree that oral care is as important as care for other body parts and 61.05% disagree that primary teeth don’t need to be cared for. Concerning practices, 87.37% exclusively breast fed their infants, 46.39% of mothers bottle fed their infants at nap time and 77.66% cleaned their infant’s teeth with cotton wool and soft wet cloth piece even after teeth erupted. Younger mothers (25-30 years) had the highest overall good practice percentage and older mothers (36-40 years) the highest poor practice score (72.73%). Highest overall poor knowledge occurred in respondents with only primary education and highest percentage (45.90%) of good practices occurred tertiary educated mothers.
Conclusions: The overall knowledge of nursing mothers towards infant oral health was fair, their attitude was good and practices poor. Oral health promotion strategies should be incorporated into all points of care contact with mothers (antenatal and postnatal).
Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study design was adopted for this study. Data collection done using a structured self-administered questionnaire. Data were analysed using Epi info version 7.2.5. A p value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant.
Results: A total of 97 nursing mothers participated in the study. On knowledge, only 14.58% think night feeding predisposes to tooth decay. 65.93% don’t know the importance of fluoridated toothpastes nor 62.89% its function. Only 27.08% are aware that teething does not cause fever. About attitude, 95.88% agree that cleaning their child’s mouth is important and 88.66% agree it should be done by mothers. A total of 86.45% agree that oral care is as important as care for other body parts and 61.05% disagree that primary teeth don’t need to be cared for. Concerning practices, 87.37% exclusively breast fed their infants, 46.39% of mothers bottle fed their infants at nap time and 77.66% cleaned their infant’s teeth with cotton wool and soft wet cloth piece even after teeth erupted. Younger mothers (25-30 years) had the highest overall good practice percentage and older mothers (36-40 years) the highest poor practice score (72.73%). Highest overall poor knowledge occurred in respondents with only primary education and highest percentage (45.90%) of good practices occurred tertiary educated mothers.
Conclusions: The overall knowledge of nursing mothers towards infant oral health was fair, their attitude was good and practices poor. Oral health promotion strategies should be incorporated into all points of care contact with mothers (antenatal and postnatal).