Preventive knowledge and practices against covid-19 in pediatric patients’ parents in a reference hospital in peru, 2022

Abstract

Objective. To determine the association between preventive knowledge and practices in parents of pediatric patients hospitalized in a reference hospital in 2022. Materials and methods. Observational, analytical, and cross-sectional study conducted between October and December 2022. Preventive practices against COVID-19 were evaluated using an instrument developed by Fernández-Guzmán et al., and knowledge about COVID-19 was assessed using the KNOW-PCOVID-19 by Mejía et al. Prevalence ratios were calculated with a 95% confidence interval. Crude and adjusted analyses were performed, considering a significant p-value <0.05. STATA v.16 software was used for the analysis. Results. The final sample included 338 participants, mostly women (74.6%), aged between 32 and 35 years. 26.6% of parents had a high level of preventive practices, and 26.3% of them had a high level of knowledge about COVID-19. A significant association was found between gender and preventive practices, with men showing a 50% lower prevalence than women (PR: 0.50; 95%CI: 0.29-0.86, p=0.013). Conclusions. An association was found between a high level of knowledge and preventive practices in parents of hospitalized children. Although close to three out of ten parents demonstrated good compliance with preventive practices; men showed lower compliance than women. Therefore, we highlight the need for strategies to strengthen communication to improve understanding and promote a more effective response to COVID-19.