INTRODUCTION:

Play is essential for the development of children, as it educates them on self-awareness and problem-solving skills. It helps them relax their mind and bond with other kids of their age. Play can be defined as a voluntary activity that actively seeks to derive pleasure.¹ Today’s children will be the master of the future world. Parents must know the importance of play in children to have sound physical and mental health. Play is a universal activity for all children. Through the universal medium of play, children learn what no one can teach them.² Play allows children to use their creativity, and imagination while developing physical, emotional, intellectual, cognitive, moral, and social strength. Children develop their physical and intellectual abilities during play.³

They develop moral values through playing with others. Play help to form creativity and give a therapeutic release from tension and stress originating from environmental influences.⁴ Children develop muscular and sensory abilities at the time of running, climbing, riding cycles, and other active play.⁵ Also, they gain knowledge during play because they learn the differences in size, shape textures, colours, and names of objects.

MAJOR BENEFITS OF PLAY INCLUDE:

enrich imagination and creativity, fosters cognitive growth, reaps emotional and behavioural benefits, develop social skills, encourages greater independence,

relieve stress, promotes physical fitness, intellectual development and self-awareness.⁶

PROBLEM STATEMENT:

Assess the knowledge regarding play needs among mothers of under five children in selected hospitals, Ernakulam district, Kerala.

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:

1. Assess the knowledge regarding play needs among mothers of under five children.

2. Find out the association between the level of knowledge regarding play needs among mothers of under five children with selected socio-demographic variables.

MATERIALS AND METHODS:

Research approach- in this study researcher used quantitative research approach.

Research design – Non-experimental descriptive design

Research variable- Knowledge regarding play needs among mothers of under five children.

Setting of the study- Government Taluk Hospital, Palluruthy, Ernakulam.

Population – Mothers of under five children.

Sample and Sampling technique- In this study samples were the mothers of under five children who attended immunization clinic and OPD at Govt. Taluk Hospital, Palluruthy, Ernakulam, and the researcher had adopted non-probability convenient sampling for this study.

Inclusion criteria

1. Mothers of under five children who were attending immunization clinic and OPD

2. Those who are willing to participate

3. Mothers who understand Malayalam language

Development and selection of tool:

The selection and development of the tool were done based on the objectives of the study. The initial draft of the tool was prepared after a detailed review of literature and discussion with the experts of the child health department.

Description of tool- The tool prepared of this study has two sections

Section A

Sociodemographic data

It is a questionnaire on sociodemographic data which consists of 10 questions to assess the sample characteristics. The question includes data regarding age, religion, educational qualification, occupation, monthly income, type of family, number of children, age of the child, residence, and source of information.

Section B

Assessment of knowledge regarding play needs among mothers of under five children

It consists of 28 multiple choice questions which contain knowledge regarding play needs such as basic knowledge regarding play, toys used and their selection, type of play, and importance of play needs. The minimum mark is zero and the maximum mark is 28. The knowledge was graded as good (22-28), average (15-21), poor (8-14), and very poor (less than or equal to 7).

Ethical clearance – ethical clearance for the study was obtained from the institutional ethical committee.

RESULTS:

Section – A: Description of socio-demographic variables of the sample

Table -1 frequency and percentage distribution of samples according to sociodemographic characteristics.

Sample Characteristics		Frequency	Percentage
Age of mother	19-24 years	13	22
	25-30 years	19	32
	31-36 years	20	33
	Above 36 years	8	13
	Total	60	100
Religion	Hindu	8	13
	Muslim	34	57
	Christian	18	30
	Total	60	100
Education	Primary School	16	27
	Secondary School	22	37
	Higher Secondary	5	8
	Graduate and above	17	28
	Total	60	100
Occupation	Homemaker	49	82
	Govt. employee	2	3
	Private	3	5
	Self-employed	6	10
	Total	60	100
Monthly income of the family (in Rs)	Below 3000	29	48
	3000-4000	12	20
	4001-5000	6	10
	Above 5000	13	22
	Total	60	100
	Nuclear Family	32	53
Type of family	Joint Family	28	47
	Total	60	100
Number of children in the family	1 Child	17	28
	2 Children	30	50
	3 children	11	19
	Above 3 children	2	3
	Total	60	100
Age of the child	0-1	15	25
	2-3	21	35
	4-5	24	40
	Total	60	100
	Rural area	8	13
Place of residence	Urban area	52	87
	Total	60	100
	Nil	2	3
	Mass media	9	15
	Peer group	16	27
Source of information	Family members	33	55
	Health workers	0	0
	Total	60	100

The table shows that 33 % of mothers belonged to 31-36 years, 22% of mothers had an education up to secondary school and 82% of mothers were homemakers. Considering the family income per month 48% of mothers had an income less than Rs. 3000 and the majority, 87% of mothers belonged to urban areas. Regarding the type of family 53% of mothers were from nuclear families and the majority, 50% mothers had two children.

Section -B Level of knowledge regarding play needs among mothers of under five children

Figure 1: Level of knowledge of samples regarding play needs among mothers of under five children

The results show that 10% of mothers had good knowledge, 62% of mothers had average knowledge, 17% of mothers had poor knowledge and 11% have very poor knowledge on play needs in under five children.

Section – C Association of knowledge of mothers of under five children with selected demographic variables.

Between knowledge and age of the mother, religion, education, occupation, monthly income of the family, type of family, numbers of children in the family, age of the children, and source of information are not significant. This shows they do not influence the knowledge of mothers. The Association between knowledge of mothers and place of residence was significant at p<0.05. So, it influences the knowledge of mothers.

DISCUSSION:

The findings of the present study were compared with the objectives of the study and the findings of other studies are reviewed. The present study aimed to assess the knowledge regarding play needs among mothers of under five children and showed that the majority of mothers of under five children had average knowledge about play needs. The findings of the present study were supported by the study conducted by Prasanna Kumar (2014) to assess the knowledge of mothers of under five children regarding the importance of play in growth and development in selected rural and urban areas in Bangalore. The study found that the majority (55%) of the rural mothers and (30%) of urban mothers had moderate knowledge.

The study was conducted on mothers of under five children. Most of the sample belongs to the age group of 31- 36 years, most of them completed secondary school, the majority were homemakers and most samples were Muslim. In the selected sample majority of the children belonged to the age group of 2- 3 years and the majority of samples (87%) are from urban areas. In this study, there was a significant association seen in place of residence and knowledge of mothers of under five children.

CONCLUSION:

The focus of the study was to assess the knowledge regarding play needs among mothers of under five children in a selected hospital, Ernakulam district, Kerala. Based on the finding of the study it is concluded that 11% of mothers had very poor knowledge, 17% of mothers had poor knowledge, 62% of mothers had average knowledge and the remaining 10% of mothers had good knowledge regarding the play needs of under five children. Also, the study found that there was a significant association of knowledge with the place of residence p<0.05.

NURSING IMPLICATIONS:

Nursing practice:

Play can make the hospital stay a learning experience. It helps to investigate negative feelings related to the child’s experiences in the hospital and reduce the intensity of anxiety and unpleasant experience accompanying a child’s admission to the hospital. The nurse working in the community and critical setting should provide health education as an integral part of the nursing profession and also stress the importance of play among children.

Nursing education:

The findings of the study indicate that all the health team members should be made aware of observing and improving knowledge regarding the play needs of under five children. Current child health care services are aimed at the promotion of growth and development in children. When nurse educators plan to instruct students, should provide adequate opportunities for them to educate mothers and the public in both community and clinical settings.

Nursing administration:

The nurse administrators should organize education programs to promote the knowledge among nurses regarding the importance of play in hospitalised children. Administrative support can be given to nurses to plan and organize health education programmes for mothers in the community setting. Nursing administrators should conduct awareness programme on the play needs of children among mothers of under five children.

Nursing research:

The nursing researchers should encourage disseminating the research findings through conferences, professional journals, and journal clubs it will make the application of research finding effectively used in practice. Various research projects should be done in the future to bring out the positive attitude of the people and the existing knowledge of various play needs.

LIMITATIONS:

1. The study is limited to mothers of under five children

2. Samples are collected from the same locality

3. The sample size is limited and does not cover all hospitals in the entire city.

RECOMMENDATIONS:

1. This study can be replicated with a large sample and other settings like creches, paediatric intensive care units, and schools.

2. The study can be extended to different age groups.

3. A comparative study can be conducted between working mothers and housewives.

4. The study can be extended to both parents.

5. A study can be conducted on structured teaching on the importance of play needs among mothers of under five children.

REFERENCES:

1. Marlow, D. R., and Reddin, B. A. (2003). Textbook of Pediatric Nursing. Philadelphia: Elsevier Publications.

2. Prasannakumar, D. R. (2014, March). Knowledge of Mothers of Under-five Children Regarding Importance of Play in Growth and Development. International Journal of Nursing Education and Research, 77-80.

3. Dutta, P. (2009). Textbook of Pediatrics Nursing. New Delhi: Jaypee Brothers Medical Publishers.

4. Wong, D. L., and Hockenberry, M. J. (2003). Wong's Nursing Care of Infants and Children (7th ed.). St. Louis: Mosby.

5. Madan Mohan, G. (2015). Study to Assess the Knowledge and Attitude Regarding Play Needs of Children Among Parents of Various Economics Groups. International Journal of Advanced Research, 5(6), 2096-2105. doi:10.21474/IJAR01/4648.

6. Tamilselvi, V (2016) Effectiveness of structured teaching programme on knowledge and attitude regarding importance of play needs among parents of under five children. Masters thesis, Arvinth College of Nursing, Namakkal.

Received on 18.08.2022 Modified on 21.10.2022

Int. J. of Advances in Nur. Management. 2023; 11(1):57-60.

DOI: 10.52711/2454-2652.2023.00012