Abstract
Background: Acute Gastroenteritis (AGE) is an emerging infectious disease-causing pediatric morbidity and mortality worldwide. Method: A cross-sectional Arabic language anonymous questionnaire-based study was performed among the Saudi mothers' population October - December 2021. Results: Up to 1301 Saudi mothers completed the study questionnaire. As for the first action that Mothers should do for a child with AGE, 52.3% of the mothers reported for consult physician, followed by starting ORS (16.7%), giving fluids (6.5%), and increasing frequency of breastfeeding (5.6%). Furthermore, good knowledge level was remarkably higher among young aged mothers (< 25 years) than among old aged group (56 or more) (42.7% vs. 13%, respectively; P=.001). Also, 45.8% of university graduated mothers had a higher understanding level compared to 19.5% of those below the secondary educational level (P=.001). In addition, our result detected good knowledge among 55.2% of mothers who started fluid therapy as the first step for AGE, compared to 48.2% of caregivers who went to a physician and 12.5% of those who consulted pharmacies (P=.001). Conclusion: Overall, we found that mothers' knowledge and attitude toward AGE were reasonably good. However, their practice in managing AGE signs and symptoms at home was relatively poor. Factors associated with gastroenteritis management were education, knowledge level, and attitude. Thus, the deficiency of knowledge poor attitude continues to cause a substantial burden on the hospitals.