Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of Mothers on Sun Exposure of their Infants at St. Paul’s Hospital, Ethiopia
Keywords:
Rickets, Sunlight exposure, Vitamin D deficiencyAbstract
Background- The main cause of rickets in Ethiopia has been Vitamin D deficiency even though Ethiopia is a subtropical country. So the main objective of this study was accessing the knowledge, attitude, practice and factors affecting sunlight exposure of infants among mothers which is important to alleviate this problem. A cross-sectional institutional based study was conducted on mother attending in under five pediatrics department at St. Paul’s Hospital Convenience sampling was used with pre tested questioner and data was entered using EPI and analyzed by SPSS version 22. Out of 384 respondents identified for the study 90% (n=346) responded for the Interview. From the total respondents 86.1% of them had good knowledge with 42% having good attitude towards sun exposure of their infants and 40% of them have poor practice about sunlight exposure respectively. In the analysis mothers’ educational status had significant association with both knowledge and practice of sunlight exposure of infants. The findings in this study showed mothers have good knowledge but half of them have poor practice about sunlight exposure. Therefore, mothers need to be educated about the importance and proper implementation the practice of sunlight exposure.
References
. Holick M. F. Vitamin D and sunlight: strategies for cancer prevention and other health benefits. Clinical Journal of the American Society of Nephrology. 2008;3 (5):1548–1554. doi: 10.2215/cjn.01350308. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [CrossRef] [Google Scholar]
. Mead M. N. Benefits of sunlight: a bright spot for human health. Environmental Health Perspective. 2008; 116(4) doi: 10.1289/ehp.116-a160. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [CrossRef] [Google Scholar]
. Robinson J. K., Rademaker A. W., Sylvester J. A., Cook B. Summer sun exposure: knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors of Midwest adolescents. Preventive Medicine. 1997;26(3):364–372. doi: 10.1006/pmed.1997.0156. [PubMed] [CrossRef] [Google Scholar]
. Gillie O. Sunlight robbery: a critique of public health policy on vitamin D in the UK. Molecular Nutrition & Food Research. 2010; 54(8):1148–1163. doi: 10.1002/mnfr.200900589. [PubMed] [CrossRef] [Google Scholar]
. US Interdepartmental Commission and on Nutrition for National Defense. Washington D. C: 1959. Ethiopian nutrition survey, section VIII; pp. 61–65. [Google Scholar]
. Ekbote V. H., Khadilkar A. V., Mughal M. Z., et al. Sunlight exposure and development of rickets in Indian toddlers. The Indian Journal of Pediatrics. 2010; 77(1):61–65. doi: 10.1007/s12098-009-0263-2. [PubMed] [CrossRef] [Google Scholar]
. Mariam T. W., Sterky G. Severe rickets in infancy and childhood in Ethiopia. The Journal of Pediatrics. 1973;82(5):876–878. doi: 10.1016/s0022-3476(73)80087-3. [PubMed] [CrossRef] [Google Scholar]
. Hojer B., Gebre-medhin M., Sterky G., Zetierstorm R., Daniel K. Combined vitamin D deficiency rickets and protein-energy malnutrition in Ethiopian infants. Journal of Tropical Pediatrics. 1977;23 (2):73–79. doi: 10.1093/tropej/23.2.73. [PubMed] [CrossRef] [Google Scholar]
. Getaneh T., Assefa A., Tadesse Z. The knowledge and practice of exposure to sunlight in jimma town, south western Ethiopia. Ethiopian Journal of Health Development. 1998:29–32. [Google Scholar]
. Lulseged S., Fitwi G. Vitamin D deficiency rickets: socio-demographic and clinical risk factors in children seen at a referral hospital in addis ababa. East African Medical Journal. 1999; 76(8):457–461. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
. Redy V., Parkin M., Waterston T. Nutritional Rickets: diseases of children in the subtropics & Tropics. Edward Arnold. 1991:376–379. [Google Scholar]
. Hart P. H. Vitamin D supplementation, moderate sun exposure, and control of immune diseases. Discovery Medicine. 2012;13(73):397–404. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
. Daniel E., Rashed M., Robert E., Abdullah H. Vitamin D sates of infants in northeastern rural Bangladesh. Journal of Health, Popular and Nutrition. 2010;28(5):458–465. [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
. Maged M. Risk factors associated with nutritional rickets among children aged 2 to 36 months old in the gaza strip. International Journal of Food, Nutrition and Public Health. 2010;3(1):36–41. [Google Scholar]
. John M. Vitamin D and calcium deficiency rickets in infants and children: a global. Indian Journal of Medical Research. 2008;8(3):245–249. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
. Nihal A., Tuncay M., Pinar T., Sulemina G. Parents’ knowledge and behavior concerning sunning their babies. BMC Pediatrics. 2006;27(6):4–9. [Google Scholar]
. Zubaida A., Nabi B., Fadia Y., Abde M. Study of risk factors of rickets in children. World Applied Science Journal. 2012;17(11):1386–1393. [Google Scholar]
Downloads
Published
How to Cite
Issue
Section
License
Authors who submit papers with this journal agree to the following terms.
