Parents' perception on cause of malaria and their malaria prevention experience among school-aged children in Kutcha district, Southern Ethiopia; qualitative study
(2020) In PLoS ONE 15.- Abstract
Introduction School-aged children become a highly vulnerable group for malaria, yet they are less likely to use malaria prevention interventions. Previous studies exploring perception on cause of malaria mainly focused on pregnant mothers or parents of children under age five years. Exploring parent's perception on cause of malaria and their experiences on the prevention of malaria and associated challenges among school-aged children is important to develop a malaria prevention education package for school-aged children to reduce malaria and malaria related morbidities among school-aged children. Methods A descriptive qualitative study is conducted in Kutcha district by recruiting 19 parents of school-aged children for semi-structured... (More)
Introduction School-aged children become a highly vulnerable group for malaria, yet they are less likely to use malaria prevention interventions. Previous studies exploring perception on cause of malaria mainly focused on pregnant mothers or parents of children under age five years. Exploring parent's perception on cause of malaria and their experiences on the prevention of malaria and associated challenges among school-aged children is important to develop a malaria prevention education package for school-aged children to reduce malaria and malaria related morbidities among school-aged children. Methods A descriptive qualitative study is conducted in Kutcha district by recruiting 19 parents of school-aged children for semi-structured interviews, 6 key informants and 6 focus group discussion which consists of parents, health development army and health extension workers. A semi-structured interview guide is used to guide the interview process. The collected data is analyzed thematically with a focus on the three major areas of concern: Perceived cause of malaria, experience of malaria prevention and challenges of bed net use for prevention of malaria. Results Five causes of malaria were identified, namely hunger, mosquito bite, exposure to hot sunshine, poor sanitation and hygiene and eating some sweet foods and unripe maize. Participants perceived that eating sweet foods and unripe maize lead to enlargement of the spleen that ends in malaria while poor hygiene and sanitation leads to either development of the ova of mosquito and the landing of the housefly to contaminate food for consumption. The experiences of malaria prevention were largely influenced by their perceived cause of malaria. The malaria prevention measures undertaken by parents were vectors control measures, homemade herbal remedies and restricting children from eating sweet foods. The challenges of malaria prevention by using bed nets were related to a negative attitude, sleeping behaviors of children; use of bed nets for unintended purposes, shortage of bed nets and delays in the distribution of bed nets. Conclusion There were misconceptions about the cause of malaria and associated experiences of malaria prevention. Control of malaria among school-aged children need health education targeting the challenges and correcting identified misconceptions by parents in Kutcha district and in other similar settings.
(Less)
- author
- Zerdo, Zerihun ; Van Geertruyden, Jean Pierre ; Massebo, Fekadu ; Biresaw, Gelila ; Shewangizawu, Misgun ; Tunje, Abayneh LU ; Chisha, Yilma ; Yohanes, Tsegaye ; Bastiaens, Hilde and Anthierens, Sibyl
- publishing date
- 2020-10
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- in
- PLoS ONE
- volume
- 15
- article number
- e0239728
- publisher
- Public Library of Science (PLoS)
- external identifiers
-
- scopus:85092886908
- pmid:33048941
- ISSN
- 1932-6203
- DOI
- 10.1371/journal.pone.0239728
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- no
- additional info
- Publisher Copyright: © 2020 Zerdo et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Copyright: Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.
- id
- cc8a65ac-6992-4606-bb7a-3f2aba58d990
- date added to LUP
- 2021-03-23 12:36:53
- date last changed
- 2024-03-23 02:16:39
@article{cc8a65ac-6992-4606-bb7a-3f2aba58d990,
abstract = {{<p>Introduction School-aged children become a highly vulnerable group for malaria, yet they are less likely to use malaria prevention interventions. Previous studies exploring perception on cause of malaria mainly focused on pregnant mothers or parents of children under age five years. Exploring parent's perception on cause of malaria and their experiences on the prevention of malaria and associated challenges among school-aged children is important to develop a malaria prevention education package for school-aged children to reduce malaria and malaria related morbidities among school-aged children. Methods A descriptive qualitative study is conducted in Kutcha district by recruiting 19 parents of school-aged children for semi-structured interviews, 6 key informants and 6 focus group discussion which consists of parents, health development army and health extension workers. A semi-structured interview guide is used to guide the interview process. The collected data is analyzed thematically with a focus on the three major areas of concern: Perceived cause of malaria, experience of malaria prevention and challenges of bed net use for prevention of malaria. Results Five causes of malaria were identified, namely hunger, mosquito bite, exposure to hot sunshine, poor sanitation and hygiene and eating some sweet foods and unripe maize. Participants perceived that eating sweet foods and unripe maize lead to enlargement of the spleen that ends in malaria while poor hygiene and sanitation leads to either development of the ova of mosquito and the landing of the housefly to contaminate food for consumption. The experiences of malaria prevention were largely influenced by their perceived cause of malaria. The malaria prevention measures undertaken by parents were vectors control measures, homemade herbal remedies and restricting children from eating sweet foods. The challenges of malaria prevention by using bed nets were related to a negative attitude, sleeping behaviors of children; use of bed nets for unintended purposes, shortage of bed nets and delays in the distribution of bed nets. Conclusion There were misconceptions about the cause of malaria and associated experiences of malaria prevention. Control of malaria among school-aged children need health education targeting the challenges and correcting identified misconceptions by parents in Kutcha district and in other similar settings. </p>}},
author = {{Zerdo, Zerihun and Van Geertruyden, Jean Pierre and Massebo, Fekadu and Biresaw, Gelila and Shewangizawu, Misgun and Tunje, Abayneh and Chisha, Yilma and Yohanes, Tsegaye and Bastiaens, Hilde and Anthierens, Sibyl}},
issn = {{1932-6203}},
language = {{eng}},
publisher = {{Public Library of Science (PLoS)}},
series = {{PLoS ONE}},
title = {{Parents' perception on cause of malaria and their malaria prevention experience among school-aged children in Kutcha district, Southern Ethiopia; qualitative study}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1371/journal.pone.0239728}},
doi = {{10.1371/journal.pone.0239728}},
volume = {{15}},
year = {{2020}},
}