الفهرس 
INTRODUCTIONOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Mothers act as advocates in their children’s health as their role is essential for the protection against COVID-19. Mothers’ adherence to precaution measures is, without doubt, key in mitigating the spread of the virus worldwide. If sufficient precautions are not followed by mothers, children may serve as a source of transmission and spread of the virus. Thus, compliance of mothers with these measures is essential in reducing the spread of Covid-19. Pediatric nurses participate in public awareness regarding prevention of the disease and diminishing its dissemination. Moreover, they guide families and mothers to available and appropriate health services, with supporting evidenced-based precautionary measures.
The aim of this study was to identify mothers’ precautions for their children’s protection from COVID-19 pandemic
The study was conducted in the Pediatric Outpatient Clinic of Shoe in Africa Children Hospital at Moi Teaching and Referral Hospital in Eldoret, Kenya. A convenient sample of 400 mothers having children from birth to 12 years comprised the study subjects. Their children were free from COVID-19 and other chronic diseases.
One tool was used to collect the necessary data namely Mothers’ Precautions for Their Children’s protection from COVID-19 Pandemic Interview Schedule. The tool was developed by the researcher after review of relevant and recent literatures. It included three parts: socio-demographic characteristics of mothers, characteristics and medical data of children and mothers’ precautions for their children’s protection from COVID-19.
The tool was tested for its content validity by five experts in the field of Pediatric Nursing. A pilot study was carried out by the researcher on 40 mothers. Every mother was interviewed individually in the waiting room during working hours of the outpatient clinic. The data was collected over 3 months starting from the beginning of February to the end April 2022.
The results of the present study revealed the following:
Nearly half of studied mothers were in the age group from 20 to less than 30 years (49.3%) with mean age of 29.84±7.43 years.
Three-quarters of mothers finished secondary or diploma education (77.5%).
Almost equal percent of mothers were either housewives (51.0%) or employed (49.0%).
Less than half of children were below 2 years (47.5%) and 16.5% of them were ranging from 4 to less than 6 years with the mean age of 4.05±3.66 years.
More than half of children were female (56.2%) and 45.2% were first born.
All mothers of children above 2 years mentioned that using of personal protective equipment is important for their children (100%).
Most mothers having children above 2 years (91.9%) reported that they choose the appropriate size of masks to cover their children’s mouth and nose. Around three-quarters of them (73.3%) instructed their children to avoid frequent touching of their faces and masks.
Ninety-one percent of mothers instructed their children to remove mask from the back and about two-thirds of them instructed their children to discard the mask immediately to a closed bin and wash their hands with soap and water (68.5% and 65.2% respectively).
None of the studied mothers used either facial shields or gloves for their children.
Eighty eight point eight percent and 54.0% of mothers provided their children with fruits and vegetables as well as protein-rich diet respectively.
Concerning home-based remedies, half of mothers provided their children with lemon juice and herbs such as ginger (51.8% and 46.3% respectively)
More than two-thirds of the mothers (69.5%) stated that breastfeeding is important for protection of their children from COVID-19 as 88.6% of them reported that it is important in increasing their children’s immunity.
Most of the mothers (90.0%) reported that they wash their hands with soap and water before and after breastfeeding as a protective measure.
Regarding breastfeeding in public, 39.4% of mothers were maintaining recommended physical distance.
Regarding social distancing, more than half of mothers (57.5%) stated that they were keeping minimum distance of 6 feet between their children and people in public places.
Majority of the mothers (86.5%) mentioned that they were performing hand hygiene and bathing for their children after visiting crowded places.
Concerning social visits, 42.3% and 25.8% of mothers were limiting number of visitors and keeping visiting time as short as possible respectively.
The majority of mothers (90.3%) were concerned with hand hygiene of their children. Equal percentage of them were instructing their children about avoiding touching eyes and nose with unclean hands as well as sharing of bottles, feeding utensils and sport equipment plus adhering to healthy respiratory etiquettes (52.5% for each).
For hygienic measures of children above two years, 100% and 99% of mothers instructed their children to wash and rub their hands palms together with soap under clean running water respectively. Moreover, 88.1% of them were encouraging their children to dry hands using a clean towel.
Regarding respiratory etiquettes, most of mothers (96.2%) were instructing their children to cough and sneeze in bent elbow, while 53.8% of them were motivating their children about using tissue while coughing and sneezing.
Two-thirds of the mothers (61.4%) mentioned that physical activity is important for protection of their children from COVID-19 as 51.2% and 33.3% of them stated that physical activity is important in increasing their children’s immunity and enhancing their growth and development respectively.
About three-quarters of the mothers (72.5%) stated that rest and sleep are important as a protective measure from COVID-19. Nearly one-third of mothers (34.1%) were creating consistent bedtime routine for their children.
Regarding cleaning and disinfection, 77.5% of mothers were cleaning surface areas with water and soap while 34.8% were using detergents. Nearly half of mothers (49.5%) were cleansing playing equipment with soap and water.