Knowledge and practice of caregivers/mothers of under five children admitted with diarrhoea at the referral hospital, Northern Cape

Abstract

The purpose of this study was to explore the knowledge and practices of caregivers/mothers of under-five children with diarrhoea-related illnesses admitted at the referral hospital. The setting for this qualitative study was the referral hospital located in the Sol Plaatje Municipality, Northern Cape Province. Unstructured interviews were conducted with caregivers/mothers of under-five children with diarrhoea admitted to the referral hospital. Colliazzi’s seven steps of data analysis (1998) as cited in Bazeley (2013:65) were used to analyse data. The study population was the caregivers/mothers of children with diarrhoea admitted to the referral hospital. The findings assisted us in understanding the knowledge the caregivers/mothers had with regard to the management of diarrhoea and in improving the health education guide used to teach caregivers/mothers.