The factors related to mother's beliefs and behaviors concerning the prevention of poisoning among children under the age of five, using the Health Belief Model

Özet

Poisoning is a major public health problem and children younger than fiveyears of age are more likely to be exposed to injury events such as poisoning.The aim of this study is to investigate the factors associated with the mothers'beliefs and behaviors in relation to poisoning prevention among childrenunder five years of age, considering the Health Belief Model (HBM).This cross-sectional study was conducted among 580 mothers with at leastone child under the age of five that had been referred to a health center inHamadan County, Iran, in 2017. The participants were selected randomly,using cluster sampling method. Data were collected through interviews, bytrained interviewers, and using a questionnaire developed by the authors.This study showed the statistically significant relationship between mothers'behavior concerning the prevention of poisoning in children under the ageof five years and the variables of the gender of children (P=0.014); mother'seducation level (P<0.001) and occupation (P=0.001); and father's educationlevel (P<0.001) and occupation (P<0.001). Moreover, mothers' relatedknowledge and, according to HBM constructs, mothers' perceived susceptibility(p<0.001) and perceived severity (p= 0.004) regarding poisoning among theirchildren, cues to action (p=0.041) and their self-efficacy (p=0.012) weremore powerful predictors for prevention of poisoning among children underthe age of five.This study indicates that the HBM, highlighting the four constructs can behelpful to design educational interventions for improving the behaviors ofmothers regarding poisoning prevention among children under the age of fiveyears.