Knowledge and Practices on Deworming in Mothers of Children Aged 2 to 5 Years

Moraima Del Toro Rubio; Keidis Sulay Ruidiaz Gómez; Shirley Paola Fernandez Aragon; Anderson Díaz Perez

doi:10.14710/nmjn.v15i1.58253

DOI: https://doi.org/10.14710/nmjn.v15i1.58253

Knowledge and Practices on Deworming in Mothers of Children Aged 2 to 5 Years

Moraima Del Toro Rubio

- Rafael Nuñez University Corporation, Colombia

*Keidis Sulay Ruidiaz Gómez

- School of Nursing, Universidad del SinúEBZ-Cartagena, Colombia

Shirley Paola Fernandez Aragon

- University of Cartagena, Colombia

Anderson Díaz Perez

- Department of Social and Human Sciences, Simón Bolívar University, Colombia

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

BibTex Citation Data :

@article{NMJN58253,
    author = {Moraima Del Toro Rubio and Keidis Ruidiaz Gómez and Shirley Fernandez Aragon and Anderson Díaz Perez},
    title = {Knowledge and Practices on Deworming in Mothers of Children Aged 2 to 5 Years},
    journal = {Nurse Media Journal of Nursing},
  volume = {15},
    number = {1},
    year = {2025},
    keywords = {Education; gastrointestinal diseases; human development; knowledge; nursing},
    abstract = {  Background:  Deworming is a key public health intervention, especially in contexts where intestinal parasitic infections are prevalent and affect vulnerable populations lacking basic sanitation services. Nursing plays an essential role in health promotion; however, gaps in parental knowledge and practices regarding deworming need to be explored to design more effective educational interventions tailored to the sociocultural and economic context of each community.   Purpose:  This study aimed to assess mothers' knowledge and practices regarding deworming in children aged 2 to 5 years.   Methods:  A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 324 mothers selected using convenience sampling. The KP-1 questionnaire on knowledge and practices related to deworming was used to collect data. Chi-square correlation tests were used to establish associations between knowledge, practices, and demographic characteristics, with a significance level of p < 0.05.   Results:  Most mothers were aged 20 to 29 years (57.7%), had completed secondary education (41.4%), and were housewives (58.6%). Their children were mostly aged three years, and 50.6% were boys. Overall, 39.8% of mothers had basic knowledge, 37.3% had poor knowledge, yet 62.3% demonstrated good deworming practices. Demographic characteristics, particularly the level of education and health regime, were significantly associated with knowledge and practices (p ≤ 0.001).   Conclusion:  Although mothers demonstrated good deworming practices, their knowledge levels were generally low. These findings highlight the need for community nursing interventions aimed at improving maternal awareness and education on deworming. },
   issn = {2406-8799},  doi = {10.14710/nmjn.v15i1.58253},
    url = {https://ejournal.undip.ac.id/index.php/medianers/article/view/58253}
}

Citation Format:

Abstract

Background: Deworming is a key public health intervention, especially in contexts where intestinal parasitic infections are prevalent and affect vulnerable populations lacking basic sanitation services. Nursing plays an essential role in health promotion; however, gaps in parental knowledge and practices regarding deworming need to be explored to design more effective educational interventions tailored to the sociocultural and economic context of each community.

Purpose: This study aimed to assess mothers' knowledge and practices regarding deworming in children aged 2 to 5 years.

Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted among 324 mothers selected using convenience sampling. The KP-1 questionnaire on knowledge and practices related to deworming was used to collect data. Chi-square correlation tests were used to establish associations between knowledge, practices, and demographic characteristics, with a significance level of p < 0.05.

Results: Most mothers were aged 20 to 29 years (57.7%), had completed secondary education (41.4%), and were housewives (58.6%). Their children were mostly aged three years, and 50.6% were boys. Overall, 39.8% of mothers had basic knowledge, 37.3% had poor knowledge, yet 62.3% demonstrated good deworming practices. Demographic characteristics, particularly the level of education and health regime, were significantly associated with knowledge and practices (p ≤ 0.001).

Conclusion: Although mothers demonstrated good deworming practices, their knowledge levels were generally low. These findings highlight the need for community nursing interventions aimed at improving maternal awareness and education on deworming.

Fulltext

Keywords: Education; gastrointestinal diseases; human development; knowledge; nursing

Article Metrics:

Article Info

Section: Articles

Language : EN

In Vol 15, No 1 (2025): (April 2025) (in progress)

Recent articles

Most cited articles

Effects of Acupoint Stimulation with Digital Massager of Oxytocin on the Breast Milk Production of Working Mothers Nursing Students’ Attitudes towards Caring for Dying Patients Correlation between Coping Strategies and Quality of Life among Myocardial Infarction Patients in Nepal The Quality of Life of Women with Cervical Cancer in Indonesia: A Cross-Sectional Study Review: Anxiety and Quality of life in Patients with Myocardial Infarction More cited articles

Alfonso R., O y Castro Agualimpia, S. (2022). Desigualdad, inequidad y corrupción. Análisis de los rasgos perennes del acceso al agua potable y al servicio sanitario de eliminación de excretas en colombia. Universidad Externado de Colombia. https://doi.org/10.57998/bdigital/handle.001.1154
Alo, C., Akamike, I. C., Agbo, U. N., Eze, I. I., Madudueze, U. C., Okedo-Alex, I. N., ... & Ogbonnaya, L. U. (2021). Prevalence, Knowledge, Attitude and Preventive Practices Regarding Intestinal and Urinary Parasites among Primary School Children in a Rural Community in Ebonyi State, Nigeria. Journal of Epidemiological Society of Nigeria, 4(1), 39-50. https://doi.org/10.46912/jeson.39
Atención Integrada a las Enfermedades Prevalentes de la Infancia AIEPI. Guía para la atención y la consejería de la niñez en la familia [Internet] 2016. Available from: https://www.minsalud.gov.co/sites/rid/Lists/BibliotecaDigital/RIDE/DE/GUIA-PARA-LA-ATENCION-DE-LA-NINEZ-EN-LA-FAMILIA.pdf
Ayele, A., Tegegne, Y., Derso, A., Eshetu, T., & Zeleke, A. J. (2021). Prevalence and Associated Factors of Intestinal Helminths Among Kindergarten Children in Gondar Town, Northwest Ethiopia. Pediatric health, medicine and therapeutics, 12, 35–41. https://doi.org/10.2147/PHMT.S290265
Bahago, N. I., & Oyewole, E. O. Knowledge,(2022) Perception and Practice of Deworming Among Mothers of Under-Five Children in Rural Communities of Lafia Lga, North Central Nigeria. North Central Nigeria. 27(4):293-8. http://dx.doi.org/10.2139/ssrn.4202185
Balew, M., & Kibret, M. (2023). Prevalence of enteric bacterial pathogens in diarrheic under-five children and their association with the nutritional status in Bahir Dar Zuria District, Northwest Ethiopia. BMC nutrition, 9(1), 35. https://doi.org/10.1186/s40795-023-00678-0
Bordignon, J. C. P., Paulino, É. T., Silva, M. E. C. D., Alencar, M. D. F. L., Gomes, K. N. F., Sotero-Martins, A., ... & Moraes Neto, A. H. A. D. (2022). Prevalence of intestinal parasitic infections versus knowledge, attitudes and practices of male residents in Brazilian urban slums: a cross-sectional study. Revista do Instituto de Medicina Tropical de São Paulo, 64, e41, 1-16. https://doi.org/10.1590/S1678-9946202264041
Croke, K., & Atun, R. (2019). The long run impact of early childhood deworming on numeracy and literacy: Evidence from Uganda. PLoS neglected tropical diseases, 13(1), e0007085. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0007085
Departamento Administrativo Nacional de Estadística DANE. Proyecciones y retroproyecciones de población municipal para el periodo 1985-2017 y 2018-2035 con base en el CNPV 2018. Serie municipal de población por área, sexo y edad, para el periodo 2018 -2026 [Internet] 2018. https://www.dane.gov.co/index.php/estadisticas-por-tema/demografia-y-poblacion/proyecciones-de-poblacion
Elorza, M. E., Moscoso, N. S., & Lago, F. P. (2017). Delimitación conceptual de la atención primaria de salud. Revista cubana de salud pública, 43, 432-448. https://www.scielosp.org/article/rcsp/2017.v43n3/432-448/
Eze, P., Agu, U. J., Aniebo, C. L., Agu, S. A., & Lawani, L. O. (2020). Perception and attitudinal factors contributing to periodic deworming of preschool children in an urban slum, Nigeria. BMC Public Health, 20, 1-12. https://doi.org//10.1186/s12889-020-09958-x
Fatima, S. R., Qureshi, A. H., Kumar, R., Naveed, I., Khushik, I. A., & Ronis, K. (2016). Assessment Of Knowledge Attitude And Practice (Kap) About Worm Infestation And Deworming Among Mothers Of Children Under-5years Of Age Living In The Slum Of Islamabad Pakistan. Isra Medical Journal, 8(1), 19-23. https://research.ebsco.com/linkprocessor/plink?id=a82a3422-fe5f-3140-b324-2dab99d33772
Flores Torres, C. P., & Seminario Cieza, V. D. C. (2020). Conocimientos, actitudes y prácticas de las madres para prevenir parasitosis intestinal en niños preescolares. Caserío Cruz del Médano, Mórrope-2018. https://tesis.usat.edu.pe/handle/20.500.12423/2400
Gebretsadik, D., Metaferia, Y., Seid, A., Fenta, G. M., & Gedefie, A. (2018). Prevalence of intestinal parasitic infection among children under 5 years of age at Dessie Referral Hospital: cross sectional study. BMC research notes, 11(771), 1-6. https://doi.org/10.1186/s13104-018-3888-2
Kasimayan, P., Kasirajan, A. K. T., Rajan, D. R., Subbiah, S., & Balasundaram, H. (2021). Knowledge and Practice on Prevention of Intestinal Parasitic Infection Among Mothers of Under-five Children in Bulehora Town, Bule Hora, Oromia Region, Southern Ethiopia. 1, 1- 25. https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-743842/v1
Keats, E. C., Das, J. K., Salam, R. A., Lassi, Z. S., Imdad, A., Black, R. E., & Bhutta, Z. A. (2021). Effective interventions to address maternal and child malnutrition: an update of the evidence. The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health, 5(5), 367-384. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2352-4642(20)30274-1
Masaku, J., Mwende, F., Odhiambo, G., Musuva, R., Matey, E., Kihara, J. H., ... & Njomo, D. W. (2017). Knowledge, practices and perceptions of geo-helminthes infection among parents of pre-school age children of coastal region, Kenya. PLoS neglected tropical diseases, 11(3), e0005514. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0005514
Ministerio de Salud. República de Colombia. Resolución 8430 de 1993. [Internet] [citado 3 de abril de 2021] Recuperado a partir de: http://www. unisabana.edu.co/fileadmin/Documentos/Investigacion/comite_de_etica/Res__8430_1993_-_Salud.pdf
Mohammed, J., Shiferaw, A., Zeleke, A., Eshetu, Y., Gebeyehu, Z., Ayehu, A., & Adem, Y. (2022). Prevalence and associated risk factors of intestinal parasites among diarrheic under-five children attending Bahir dar and Han health centers, Northwest Ethiopia: A cross-sectional study. Journal of Parasitology Research, 1(2), 1-9. https://doi.org/10.1155/2022/7066529
Muñoz, N. F. S., Arteaga, L. R. V., Fernández, D. G., Agudelo, N. D. M., Cuellar, F. E. G., Carvajal, J. B. M., & García, M. E. P. (2017). Situación del parasitismo intestinal en preescolares de un hogar infantil estatal en Popayán, Colombia. Medicina & Laboratorio, 23(11), 573-584. https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/articulo?codigo=8741506
Pedraza, B., Suarez, H., De-la-Hoz, I., & Fragoso, P. (2019). Prevalencia de parásitos intestinales en niños de 2-5 años en hogares comunitarios de Cartagena de Indias, Colombia. Revista chilena de nutrición, 46(3), 239-244. http://dx.doi.org/10.4067/S0717-75182019000300239
Peña Sandoval, M. C. (2019). Conocimientos, actitudes y prácticas sobre medidas preventivas de parasitosis intestinal en madres de niños menores de 5 años atendidos en Puesto de Salud Puente Internacional, diciembre 2017-abril 2018. https://alicia.concytec.gob.pe/vufind/Record/USPE_8f5c9d0e5ebff52090c25880c33a3a78
Peters, L., Burkert, S., & Grüner, B. (2021). Parasites of the liver–epidemiology, diagnosis and clinical management in the European context. Journal of hepatology, 75(1), 202-218. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jhep.2021.02.015
Rodríguez-Sáenz, A. Y., Mozo-Pacheco, S. A., & Mejía-Peñuela, L. E. (2020). Parásitos intestinales y factores de riesgo en escolares de una institución educativa rural de Tunja (Colombia) en el año 2015. Medicina & Laboratorio, 23(03-04), 159-169. https://www.medigraphic.com/cgi-bin/new/resumen.cgi?IDARTICULO=94776
Romani Solis, N. O. L. B. E. R. T. A., & Quispe Torres, L. V. (2020). Conocimiento Sobre Parasitosis Intestinal En Madres Con Niños De 2 A 5 Años. Centro De Salud Santiago–Ica, 2019. https://repositorio.autonomadeica.edu.pe/handle/20.500.14441/624
Rwamwejo, F., Ndatinya, G. I., Mkata, M. I., Blauman, A., Regnier, D., & Lackner, S. C. (2023). Assessing the knowledge, attitudes, practices, and perspectives of stakeholders of the deworming program in rural Rwanda. PLOS Neglected Tropical Diseases, 17(8), e0010759. https://doi.org/10.1371/journal.pntd.0010759
Singh, G., Njamnshi, A. K., & Sander, J. W. (2021). Vector-borne protozoal infections of the CNS: cerebral malaria, sleeping sickness and Chagas disease. Current Opinion in Neurology, 34(3), 439-446. http://dx.doi.org/10.1097/WCO.0000000000000919
Tiruneh, T., Sharew, B., Hailesilassie, H., & Eyayu, T. (2021). Prevalence of intestinal parasites using formal ether concentration technique and its associated factors among school children at Dawudo primary school, Dessie, Northeast Ethiopia: A cross-sectional study. PAMJ-One Health, 5(7). https://doi.org/10.11604/pamj-oh.2021.5.7.26160
Vera Duarte, C. B., Flores Mendoza, J. E., & Aria Zaya, L. S. (2025). Nivel de conocimiento de los padres acerca de la parasitosis en niños y niñas. Revista científica Ciencias De La Salud, 7, 01–08. https://doi.org/10.53732/rccsalud/2025.e7104
Villamizar, X., Higuera, A., Herrera, G., Vasquez-A, L. R., Buitron, L., Muñoz, L. M., ... & Ramírez, J. D. (2019). Molecular and descriptive epidemiology of intestinal protozoan parasites of children and their pets in Cauca, Colombia: a cross-sectional study. BMC infectious diseases, 19(1), 1-11. https://doi.org/10.1016/S2352-4642(20)30274-1
Organización Mundial de la Salud. (2023). Soil-transmitted helminth infections. Recuperado el 29 de abril de 2025 de https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/soil-transmitted-helminth-infections

Last update:

No citation recorded.

Last update: 2025-05-03 07:01:21

No citation recorded.

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

Journal Author(s) Rights

In order for the Department of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Diponegoro to publish and disseminate research articles, we need non-exclusive publishing rights (transferred from the author(s) to the publisher). This is determined by a publishing agreement between the author(s) and the Department of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Diponegoro. This agreement involves the transfer or licensing of the copyright for publishing to the publisher, while authors still retain significant rights to use and share their own published articles. The Department of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Diponegoro supports the need for authors to share, disseminate, and maximize the impact of their research through these rights in any databases.

As the author(s), you have rights to a wide range of uses of your article, including use by your employing institution or company. These author rights can be exercised without the need to obtain specific permission. Authors publishing in the Nurse Media Journal of Nursing have extensive rights to use their works for teaching and scholarly purposes without needing to seek permission, including:

use for classroom teaching by the author or the author’s institution and presentation at a meeting or conference, including distributing copies to attendees;
use for internal training by the author’s company;
distribution to colleagues for their research use;
use in a subsequent compilation of the author’s works;
inclusion in a thesis or dissertation;
reuse of portions or extracts from the article in other works (with full acknowledgment of the final article);
preparation of derivative works (other than for commercial purposes) (with full acknowledgment of the final article);
voluntary posting on open websites operated by the author or the author’s institution for scholarly purposes;

following the open access license of the Creative Commons CC BY-SA License.

Authors, readers, and third parties can copy and redistribute the material in any medium or format, as well as remix, transform, and build upon the material for any purpose, even commercially, but they must give appropriate credit (including the name of the creator and attribution parties, detailed information about the authors, a copyright notice, an open access license notice, a disclaimer notice, and a link to the material), provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made. The publisher will indicate any modification of the material (if any) and retain an indication of previous modifications using a CrossMark Policy and information about Erratum-Corrigendum notifications.

Authors, readers, and third parties can read, print, and download, redistribute or republish the article (e.g., display it in a repository), translate the article, download it for text and data mining purposes, reuse portions or extracts from the article in other works, sell or reuse it for commercial purposes, remix, transform, or build upon the material. They must distribute their contributions under the same license as the original Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike (CC BY-SA).

Copyright Transfer Agreement for Publishing (Publishing Right)

The Authors submitting a manuscript do so on the understanding that if accepted for publication, non-exclusive right for publishing (publishing right) of the article shall be assigned/transferred to Publisher of the Nurse Media Journal of Nursing (Department of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Diponegoro).

Upon acceptance of an article, authors will be asked to complete a 'Copyright Transfer Agreement for Publishing (CTAP)'. An e-mail will be sent to the Corresponding Author confirming receipt of the manuscript together with a 'Copyright Transfer Agreement for Publishing' form by online version of this agreement.

Nurse Media Journal of Nursing and Department of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Diponegoro, the Editors and the Editorial Board make every effort to ensure that no wrong or misleading data, opinions or statements be published in the journal. In any way, the contents of the articles and advertisements published in the Nurse Media Journal of Nursing are sole and exclusive responsibility of their respective authors and advertisers.

Please note that even though we ask for a transfer of copyright for publishing (CTAP), our journal Author(s) retain (or are granted back) significant scholarly rights as mentioned before.

The Copyright Transfer Agreement for Publishing (CTAP) Form can be downloaded here: [Copyright Transfer Agreement for Publishing (CTAP) Form NMJN 2024]

The copyright form should be signed electronically and send to the Editorial Office in the form of original e-mail below:

Dr. Meira Erawati (Editor-in-Chief)
Editorial Office of Nurse Media Journal of Nursing
Department of Nursing, Faculty of Medicine, Universitas Diponegoro
Jl. Prof. Soedarto, Tembalang, Semarang, Central Java, Indonesia 50275
Telp.: +62-24-76480919; Fax.: +62-24-76486849
E-mail: media_ners@live.undip.ac.id

(This policy statements has been updated at 24th January 2024)

Knowledge and Practices on Deworming in Mothers of Children Aged 2 to 5 Years

Journal Author(s) Rights

Copyright Transfer Agreement for Publishing (Publishing Right)

OFFICE INFORMATION