Introduction: Misconceptions are associated with the teething process in Nigeria and is often blamed for symptoms in infants. A horrendous incident occurred in Nigeria in 2008 which recorded 84 infant deaths due to co...Introduction: Misconceptions are associated with the teething process in Nigeria and is often blamed for symptoms in infants. A horrendous incident occurred in Nigeria in 2008 which recorded 84 infant deaths due to consumption of adulterated teething syrup to prevent teething problems. In the quest to engage the populace, particularly mothers, in health education to change this erroneous mindset about teething, it will be necessary and more cost effective to involve Traditional Birth Attendants (TBA’s) who can be invaluable in assisting to dispel myths associated teething as they live and work among the local populace and many times give counsel to mothers. Aim: To assess the attitude and beliefs of TBA’s in Ibadan, to teething in infants. Methods: A cross sectional survey was conducted among TBA’s in Ibadan, Nigeria. A thirteen item interviewer administered questionnaire was distributed to all 163 TBA’s in the five urban local government areas who agreed to be part of the study. Results: Over half of the respondents (59.5%) and (55.8%) associated the teething process with fever and diarrhea respectively. Other beliefs included boils (49.1%), loss of appetite (48.5%), weight loss (44.2%), and sleeplessness (42.3%). A greater proportion of the older and less educated TBA’s associated teething with fever, diarrhea, boils, loss of appetite and weight loss. The respondents would advise analgesics (55.8%), teething powder (67.5%), antibiotics (12.3%), concoctions (4.3%) and sedatives (4.3%) as teething remedies. There was a greater tendency for less educated TBA’s to advise the use of concoctions?and antibiotics. Conclusion: The study reveals grave misconceptions among TBA’s who in developing countries like Nigeria give counsel to mothers in the various communities. There is an urgent need for health education to the TBA’s particularly the older and less educated ones.展开更多
Introduction: Traditional birth attendants (TBA’s) have been a good medium for transferring health education messages in culturally acceptable ways. It is believed that they will be a good asset to demystify the misc...Introduction: Traditional birth attendants (TBA’s) have been a good medium for transferring health education messages in culturally acceptable ways. It is believed that they will be a good asset to demystify the misconceptions associated with reversal of eruption sequence in the community. Aim: To assess the opinions of TBA’s towards reversal of eruption sequence of primary central incisors in infants. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted among all consenting TBA’s in the five urban local government areas in Ibadan, using a pretested 17-item semi structured interviewer administered questionnaire. Results: Forty eight (29.4%) respondents will be astonished at seeing children erupting upper primary central incisors before the lowers, while 25 (15.3%) will regard them as strange. Thirty five (21.1%) respondents felt this condition was due to evil spirits while 13 (8.0%) believed that child’s parents had breached traditional taboos. There was a correlation between negative beliefs about this variation and age (p = 0.038) and education (p = 0.020). Their opinion on the families of the affected children was hideous as (13.5%), (23.3%) and (27.6%) regarded it as a curse, embarrassment and abomination respectively and this was associated with their educational status (p = 0.014). Many (61.3%) of the respondents would advise the parents to hide or get rid of such children whilst (33.7%) advocated for extraction and only 8 (4.9%) felt child and the tooth should be left alone. Conclusion: Many of the TBA’s have dissenting mind-sets towards such children and their families. The practices of many of the TBA’s towards such teeth are disturbing and necessitate urgent intervention. The risks are that wrong advice may be given to such parents by the TBA’s and affected children may be deserted, abandoned, stigmatized and exposed to hazards. Older and less educated TBA’s have a greater tendency to believe these misconceptions.展开更多
文摘Introduction: Misconceptions are associated with the teething process in Nigeria and is often blamed for symptoms in infants. A horrendous incident occurred in Nigeria in 2008 which recorded 84 infant deaths due to consumption of adulterated teething syrup to prevent teething problems. In the quest to engage the populace, particularly mothers, in health education to change this erroneous mindset about teething, it will be necessary and more cost effective to involve Traditional Birth Attendants (TBA’s) who can be invaluable in assisting to dispel myths associated teething as they live and work among the local populace and many times give counsel to mothers. Aim: To assess the attitude and beliefs of TBA’s in Ibadan, to teething in infants. Methods: A cross sectional survey was conducted among TBA’s in Ibadan, Nigeria. A thirteen item interviewer administered questionnaire was distributed to all 163 TBA’s in the five urban local government areas who agreed to be part of the study. Results: Over half of the respondents (59.5%) and (55.8%) associated the teething process with fever and diarrhea respectively. Other beliefs included boils (49.1%), loss of appetite (48.5%), weight loss (44.2%), and sleeplessness (42.3%). A greater proportion of the older and less educated TBA’s associated teething with fever, diarrhea, boils, loss of appetite and weight loss. The respondents would advise analgesics (55.8%), teething powder (67.5%), antibiotics (12.3%), concoctions (4.3%) and sedatives (4.3%) as teething remedies. There was a greater tendency for less educated TBA’s to advise the use of concoctions?and antibiotics. Conclusion: The study reveals grave misconceptions among TBA’s who in developing countries like Nigeria give counsel to mothers in the various communities. There is an urgent need for health education to the TBA’s particularly the older and less educated ones.
文摘Introduction: Traditional birth attendants (TBA’s) have been a good medium for transferring health education messages in culturally acceptable ways. It is believed that they will be a good asset to demystify the misconceptions associated with reversal of eruption sequence in the community. Aim: To assess the opinions of TBA’s towards reversal of eruption sequence of primary central incisors in infants. Methods: A cross sectional study was conducted among all consenting TBA’s in the five urban local government areas in Ibadan, using a pretested 17-item semi structured interviewer administered questionnaire. Results: Forty eight (29.4%) respondents will be astonished at seeing children erupting upper primary central incisors before the lowers, while 25 (15.3%) will regard them as strange. Thirty five (21.1%) respondents felt this condition was due to evil spirits while 13 (8.0%) believed that child’s parents had breached traditional taboos. There was a correlation between negative beliefs about this variation and age (p = 0.038) and education (p = 0.020). Their opinion on the families of the affected children was hideous as (13.5%), (23.3%) and (27.6%) regarded it as a curse, embarrassment and abomination respectively and this was associated with their educational status (p = 0.014). Many (61.3%) of the respondents would advise the parents to hide or get rid of such children whilst (33.7%) advocated for extraction and only 8 (4.9%) felt child and the tooth should be left alone. Conclusion: Many of the TBA’s have dissenting mind-sets towards such children and their families. The practices of many of the TBA’s towards such teeth are disturbing and necessitate urgent intervention. The risks are that wrong advice may be given to such parents by the TBA’s and affected children may be deserted, abandoned, stigmatized and exposed to hazards. Older and less educated TBA’s have a greater tendency to believe these misconceptions.
