Assessment of mothers' knowledge, attitudes, and practices towards teething in Uselu community, an urban area of Benin City

Mothers' Knowledge, Attitudes, and Practices towards Teething

Abstract

Background: Teething is an important developmental milestone in young children. It typically begins around the age of six months. However, mothers have erroneously associated systemic symptoms with teething.

Objective: To assess mothers' knowledge, attitudes, and practices towards teething in Uselu community, an urban area of Benin City

Materials and Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 347 mothers in the Uselu Community. A convenience sampling technique was used to recruit the study participants. The tool for data collection was a researcher-administered structured questionnaire. Data was analyzed using SPSS Version 23.0 Software with a level of significance set at 0.05.

Results: A total of 347 mothers participated in the study. A majority, 298(85.8%), were aware of teething, with 31.7% reporting the source of information as being from neighbours who are mothers. The maternal beliefs about symptoms associated with teething were fever 304(87.5%), diarrhoea 237(68.3%), and irritability/crying 136(39.2%). About half of the respondents, 191(55.0%) had a fair knowledge of teething. The attitude of the respondents in this study revealed that just over half (59.2%) of the respondents believe that teething is physiological, and 145 (41.7%) disagree that dentists are the best professionals to visit. Overall, 252(73%) of all respondents had a negative attitude towards teething. An assessment of the mothers' practices during teething showed that 334(96%) self-medicated, over half; 204(61.1%) of which always use teething syrup, with a composite safe practice score of fair, 208 (60.0%). Bivariate analysis on teething practices and the sociodemographics of the respondents revealed that the proportion of respondents with good practices increased with increasing levels of education, and this was statistically significant (p=0.001).
Conclusion: The common symptoms of teething reported by mothers in the study were fever, diarrhoea, and irritability. Overall, the participants had fair knowledge but a negative attitude towards teething. Mothers with tertiary level of education had good practices, and the composite safety practice score for this study was fair.