Article Sidebar
Article Details
Papers that have already been accepted for publication in the Ethiopian Journal of Pediatrics will automatically become Journal’s copyright which Contributing Authors must clear by completing and signing the Copyright Form in accordance with Journal’s copyright policy before actual publication.
More information can be found at https://www.ejpch.net/index.php/ejpch/about/submissions.
Main Article Content
Parental knowledge, attitudes and practices regarding safe handling and disposal of alcoholbased hand sanitizers and surface disinfectants in urban Sri Lanka
Abstract
Introduction: Hand sanitizers were increasingly used in most households during the COVID-19 pandemic. This study aimed to assess knowledge and practices regarding the safe handling and disposal of alcohol-based hand sanitizers and surface disinfectants in urban Sri Lanka.
Methods: A cross-sectional study was performed including parents of children admitted to North Colombo Teaching Hospital for a period of one year in August 2021. Data were collected regarding parental knowledge about the safe handling and disposal of hand sanitizers, and their health hazards by paediatric post-graduate trainees. All data were analyzed using SPSS 17.0. Chi-square test was used to find the association of overall knowledge and attitude scores with potential sociodemographic determining factors.
Results: A total of 153 parents were recruited. The majority of mothers (126, 82.4%) and fathers (133, 86.9%) had attended up to secondary school. Approximately 113(73.9%) parents believed that pre-school children were the most vulnerable for accidental ingestion of sanitizers and 40 parents (26.1%) did not believe that sanitizer solutions can be accidentally inhaled by toddlers. Only 132 parents (86.2%) knew how to disinfect their home premises safely and 29 parents (18.9%) didn’t know how to store cleaning products safely. Overall, lower knowledge scores correlated with lower maternal education (p<0.05) and lower socio-economic status (p<0.05). The gender (p = 0.06) and age of the parent (>35 years versus <35 years) (p = 0.21) did not show a significant association. Attitude scores positively correlated with parental education (p<0.002) and socio-economic status (p<0.03). The gender (p = 0.12) and age of the parent (>35 years versus <35 years) (p = 0.07) did not show a significant association.
Conclusion :Overall knowledge and attitude scores in parents were associated with education level of parents and the level of socio- economic status. Gender and parental age did not show a significant association.
