ABSTRACT

Introduction: - Diarrhea is the first cause of illness and second cause of death in under-five children. Home interventions can prevent 57% of mortality related to diarrhea. However, malpractices were common and reason for its underutilization was unclear. Scarce studies were available and knowledge and real practice of the local community was unknown. Thus, this study aimed at to assess the magnitude of home management practice and associated factors. This result will be important in community based intervention and health promotion.

Methods: The community-based comparative cross-sectional study was conducted in Doba woreda, Ethiopia, from February, 25 to March 15, 2017. Multistage cluster sampling technique used to study 559 caregivers. An interviewer administered pre-tested structured questionnaire was used to collect data on food and fluid intake and zinc supplementation after getting consent form. Diploma holders were participated in data collection. Collected data was entered into Epi Ifo version 3.5.1 and exported to statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) version 20.0 for analysis. Bi-variate and multi-variable logistic regression analysis was conducted. In bi-variate analysis p-value<0.25 was taken and included in multivariable analysis. Adjusted odds ratios with their corresponding 95% of CI were used to report results with significance level of p-value<0.05.

Result:-Total of 559 caregivers (184 from urban and 375 from rural) included in study. The mean age of caregivers was 27+6.1(SD) years. Caregivers with good knowledge were 81% for urban and 38.7% for rural residents. Poor home management practice was 91(55.8%) for urban and 286(85.6%) for rural residents among children with diarrhea in last one year. On multivariable analysis, knowledge level (AOR=2.7(1.3, 6.5) and AOR=13.4(5.3, 34.0)) and not easy to prepare ORS (AOR=4.0(1.4, 11.0) and AOR=2.4(1.3, 5.3)) were associated to home management practice both in urban and rural respectively. In urban, mothers of male index child (AOR=2.3(1.2, 4.7) and age of the mother 26-35years (AOR=0.26(0.09, 0.8) were associated to home practice and in rural, inaccessibility to zinc supplementation (AOR=2.4(1.2, 5.0)) was associated with home management practice of diarrhea.

Conclusion: - This study revealed poor home management practice of diarrhea was high in both urban and rural residents of Doba. It was higher in rural compared to urban residents. Poor practice was associated with knowledge level, age of the mother, sex of the index child and accessibility of zinc. Health education and community mobilization on home management of diarrhea is important to increase awareness and improve practice level.

Keywords:  Home management practice, diarrhea, comparative, Ethiopia