Practical skills of care for children with acute respiratory infection among mothers of children below 5 years in Tam Thanh commune, Vu Ban district, Nam Dinh province

Objective: To examine mothers’ practical skills in caring for children with ARIs in Tam Thanh commune, Vu Ban district, Nam Dinh province.
Participants and methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study from September 2020 to June 2021 on 194 mothers with children under 5 years old in Tam Thanh commune, Vu Ban district, Nam Dinh province.
Results: Practical skills in caring for children with ARIs achieved an average score of 14.3 ± 5.2/28 points.and only 15.5% of mothers who achieved all 3 practical skills.In which, the temperature measurement technique had the average score of 6.3 ± 1.97/10 points and 43.8% of mothers who passed practice skills. There were 17.5% of mothers who properly dried their children’s armpits and 42.8% of mothers who checked the thermometer with the correct technique. The technique of applying warm compress to reduce fever for children had a low average score of 5.8 ± 1.86 per 9 points and 58.2% of mothers who passed the practice skill. 49% of mothers did the right thing when checking the temperature of the water before applying heat to the baby. 33% of mothers applied the towel in the correct procedure. The chest percussion technique had the lowest average score of 2.1 ± 2.38 per 9 points and 10.8% of mothers who passed the practice skill. The majority of mothers performed the correct posture when pacing the baby’s chest with a rate of 62.9%. However, only 15.5% of mothers performed the correct technique of patting and moving their hands on the baby’s back. Most mothers did not perform the steps of the vibrating procedure correctly.
Conclusion: Practical skills in measuring temperature, applying warm compresses to reduce fever, and patting the chest in the care of children with ARIs of mothers were still low.