Abstract
Studies found that most of the parents were uncertain about the use of antibiotics for children's fever. This study aimed to evaluate knowledge and practice of parents in child fever management in Al Baha City, Saudi Arabia. A cross-sectional study was done on 431 participants using an electronic questionnaire including items about participants' knowledge of fever and its health effects, practice in fever management, how to measure temperature, fever treatment given without prescription, when to decide to visit the health providers, difficulty faced when giving medication, parents' concerns about fever. 9% of parents had history of child febrile, 92.8% and 93.3% knew normal temperature and truly defined fever respectively, 96% thought fever is harmful, 39.4% thought that they had enough information about fever, and 91.4%, 82.6%, 86.3%, and 87.9%, thought that febrile convulsion, loss of consciousness, dehydration, brain damage were the most common concerns respectively. About 88% of parents use a thermometer for fever, 89.6% apply cold compressions and 93.5% decide to take the child to hospital due to high fever. The most common difficulty faced in giving fever medicine was deciding the amount and frequency of dosing. Mothers and parents with 36-45 years had a significantly higher percentage of those thought fever may be useful and mothers with a university education were significantly afraid of febrile convulsions and brain damage. There is a need to raise awareness of parents about the right management of children as wrong concerns can make them fail to act properly.