Aim:

This study was carried out in order to determine the alternative treatment practices used by mothers of children who had respiratory tract infection during their childhood period.

Materials and Methods:

The population of the study, planned as descriptive, was composed of mothers of children who applied to family health centres in Bandırma town centre for respiratory tract infection, and the sample of the study was composed of mothers of 220 children who applied to family health centres and accepted to participate in the study. The data were collected using the questionnaire form prepared by the researchers via face-to-face interviews and evaluated with SPSS 19.0 statistical package program using number-percentage distribution and chi-square test.

Results:

It was found that 60.9% of the mothers were aged between 21 and 30, and 50.5% of the children were boys and 49.5% were girls. Also, 38.2% of the mothers sometimes used alternative treatment practices and 29.1% of them usually preferred to use these methods. It was also determined that the most commonly used practice was warm shower to bring the fever down (47.7%), feeding with honey (ginger etc) to minimize coughing (51.8%), cleaning nasal passages with saltwater (32.3%). There was no statistically meaningful diffrence between the mothers’ frequency of using alternative treatment practices, their educational status (p=0.597) and ages (p=0.191). 77.7% of the participant mothers stated that these alternative methods were not harmful and 95.5% of them claimed that these methods did not have any adverse effects.

Conclusion:

It has been seen that some mothers use alternative treatment methods when children have respiratory tract infection. Families should be informed about selecting the appropriate alternative treatment methods and possible adverse effects that may result from these false choices.

Keywords: Respiratory tract infections, alternative treatment, mothers, children, nursing