Family practices in the care of children from the rural areas of Sopetrán, Antioquia

Abstract

Objective: To determine to what extent the parents of children participating in the Colombian Institute for Family Wellbeing community homes implemented key family practices as a part of integrated management of childhood illness in the rural areas of Sopetrán, Antioquia in 2014.

Methodology: cross-sectional descriptive study. The main source was the universe of parents or caregivers.

Results: Seventy-nine parents or caregivers participated from nine community wellbeing homes in eight rural communities. The average age of mothers and fathers was 28 and 32, respectively. Of all families, 74.7% belonged to the lowest socioeconomic strata, and 48% of families were nuclear families. Vegetables, dairy products, pumpkins, and carrots were the least consumed foods by children. Over half of families (54.4%) get water from springs, 21.5% do not treat the water before drinking it, and 5.1% still practice open defecation. In fact, 15.2% and 35.4% remain unaware of the warning signs of infant respiratory infection and acute diarrhea, respectively. In 89.9% of cases, mothers care for children with little or no help from fathers.

Conclusion: Parents are unaware of the key practices related to the early identification of warning signs in diseases common to children. In addition, not all participating families have access to treated drinking water and basic sanitary conditions. Lastly, many families do not boil water prior to drinking it, which could increase the prevalence of certain diseases.