Parents’ management of childhood fever : an exploratory quantitative study in Malta

Abstract

Every child will, at some stage in their development, experience a febrile episode that their caregiver will have to manage. Literature has reported that parents tend to misdiagnose fever, administer antipyretics incorrectly and become overly anxious about their child when febrile. This study aimed to explore the fever management behaviours of parents in Malta. A quantitative, explorative cross-sectional study was conducted in Malta’s acute hospital, Mater Dei, by distributing questionnaires to parents of children aged 6 months–5 years. The results showed that although most Maltese parents diagnose fever at the correct temperature, many are not aware of the correct evidence-based practices for safe pharmacological and non-pharmacological fever management. It is concluded that more dissemination of information is needed to educate and empower parents to manage fever effectively through health professionals other than paediatricians.