ORIGINAL RESEARCH article
Front. Public Health
Sec. Children and Health
This article is part of the Research TopicGastrointestinal Infections in Pediatric PopulationsView all 4 articles
Maternal Practices and Awareness of Diarrhoea Management in Children Under-Five: Evidence from Pune, India
Provisionally accepted
- Department of Pharmacology, Bharati Vidyapeeth (Deemed to be) University Medical College, Pune, India
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Introduction: Diarrhoea remains a leading cause of morbidity and mortality among children under-five in developing countries. Mothers' knowledge and practices play a critical role in early home management and prevention. Objectives: To assess the knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) of mothers of under-five children regarding the prevention and management of diarrhoea in Pune, India. Methods: A cross-sectional, questionnaire-based survey was conducted among 122 mothers attending the paediatric outpatient department of a tertiary care hospital. Data on sociodemographic characteristics, knowledge, attitudes, and practices related to diarrhoea were collected and analyzed using descriptive statistics and Chi-square tests. Results: Most mothers (67.2%) correctly defined diarrhoea, and nearly all (99.18%) identified contaminated water as a major cause. Awareness of ORS was high, with 95.9% knowing its correct preparation. However, only 28.7% recognized the role of zinc supplementation. Higher education, employment, and income were significantly associated with better knowledge (p < 0.05), but not with practice scores. A weak positive correlation (r = 0.34) was found between knowledge and practice. About 27% followed all three WHO-recommended home-based treatments (ORS, increased fluids, continued feeding), while 3% relied solely on antibiotics. Conclusion: Mothers demonstrated good awareness of diarrhoea causes and ORS use but lacked adequate knowledge of zinc supplementation. Health education efforts should target these gaps to promote complete and evidence-based home management practices.
Keywords: diarrhoea, Children, India, knowledge, Practice, ORS, Zinc
Received: 26 Jul 2025; Accepted: 26 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Shukla, Suryawanshi and Dhande. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Sonali Pradeep Suryawanshi
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