Impact of Health Education on Preventive Practices of A.R.I among Mothers Living In Urban Slum –Bangalore

Acute respiratory tract infections in young children take a heavy toll on life among urban slum dwellers and where medical care is not available or sought. The effective way to reduce deaths from ARI is early and prompts treatment as well as health education. The urban slum population is more vulnerable to health risk as they face many risk factors like living condition, sanitation, health care facilities. In this pre experimental study, the variables were assessed through pre and post test followed by educational intervention for 476 mothers of under five children residing in urban slums of Bangalore District. The data regarding socio demographic variables of mothers and knowledge of mothers on preventive practices of acute respiratory tract infections was collected through structured interview schedule. The major study findings indicate that there is significant difference between the knowledge of practice scores of mothers between pre and post test. The results also indicates that there is significant relationship between knowledge scores of mothers with their socio demographic variables and community based health education could enhance the knowledge of mothers regarding preventive practices of acute respiratory tract infections in their young children.