Determining the approaches and knowledge levels of parents with children aged 1-6 in feverish conditions

The study, aimed at determining the approaches and knowledge levels of parents with children aged 1-6 in feverish situations, is of a descriptive nature. The research was conducted with 250 parents working in the Pediatric Emergency Department of Batman Training and Research Hospital between November 10, 2022, and May 1, 2023. Data were collected through face-to-face interviews by the researcher after obtaining informed consent from the participants. The data collection tools used were the "Questionnaire" and the "Turkish Version of the Parental Fever Management Scale." Data were analyzed using the IBM SPSS Statistics 27 software package.It was determined that the majority of parents were in the 26-35 age group, and a significant portion of parents, approximately 86.8%, expressed concerns about fever, with febrile seizures (79.2%) being the most significant source of concern. Typically, lukewarm water was used in approximately 70.8% of cases for temperature reduction, with the forehead being the most common application site (52.0%). It was found that a significant majority of parents (81.2%) used fever-reducing medication for their children without consulting a doctor before the fever subsided. The most commonly used fever-reducing medications were Paracetamol (78.4%) and Ibuprofen (54.8%). More than half of the parents (51.6%) were found to have not received education on fever, and 86.8% expressed concern about fever. The average score parents obtained from the 'Parental Fever Management Scale' was 32.20. It was observed that parents with higher education and income levels had higher scores on the scale. Parents were found to adopt an active approach in monitoring and reducing fever, displaying behaviors indicating concern about fever. Therefore, it is necessary to educate parents to reduce their concerns about fever, fever management, and febrile seizures and to prevent incorrect practices.