Knowledge And Attitudes Of Caretakers Of Children Suffering From Brain Tumors. Lessons From Mulago National Referral Hospital, Uganda

Abstract

This study investigated the knowledge and attitude of Caretakers of children suffering from Brain tumors focusing on Mulago Hospital, Kawempe division, Kampala, Uganda. A cross-sectional study design was used, respondents were determined by adapting a Krejcie and Morgan Table 1970, and convenient sampling was used to select 50 respondents including 16% fathers, 56% mothers, 20%grandparents, and 10% others. The specific objectives of the study were a) to assess caretakers’ knowledge of brain tumors in children in Mulago Hospital and (b) to evaluate the attitude of Caretakers towards the management of brain tumors in children in Mulago Hospital. Data was collected using a self-administered questionnaire and entered, analyzed using SPSS, and exported to an Excel program for analysis. Results were presented in both tabular and graphic forms. The study found that 46% of caretakers had fair knowledge and the majority had negative attitudes toward brain tumors. The study concluded that caretakers had fair knowledge related to medicine names, painful procedures, side effects and duration of treatment and further showed majority of caretakers had negative attitudes, especially about procedures and side effects of treatment hence more Brain tumors, Knowledge, caretakers.

Keywords: Brain Tumors; Caretaker Knowledge; Caretaker Attitude; Pediatric Oncology