Parental knowledge of chronic inflammatory bowel diseases in a child

Abstract

Introduction: Chronic inflammatory bowel disease is a chronic lifelong disease with various triggers, intermediate longer and shorter remissions. Parents need to know what kind of nutrition the child with chronic inflammatory bowel disease needs because they must be able to make the right decisions regarding the child‘s diet. The right choice of diet gives a child enough energy in their daily and enables the quality life. They must enjoy a healthy balanced diet so that they receive all the nutrients the body needs. In our work, we presented chronic inflammatory bowel disease in children and parents’ assessment of the child’s quality of life. Methods: We chose a quantitative methodology to establish the impact of diet on the quality of life of the child with chronic inflammatory bowel disease. To describe and define the problem, we used a descriptive method. A structured measurement instrument was based on a review of the relevant foreign and domestic literature. Statistical data analysis was performed using descriptive and inferential statistics. Data were collected by a non-random and occasional sampling survey. Results: We found that most children whose parents participated in this research have Crohn’s disease (n = 20; 50%) and ulcerative colitis (n = 16; 40%). The type of food that is harmful to the child is fatty food (n = 33; 83%), followed by spicy food (n = 32; 80%) and acidic food (n = 10; 25%). According to the parents’ assessment, children with chronic inflammatory bowel disease have good (n = 22; 55%) health. We found that physicians provide parents with the most necessary nutrition information. Through evaluation of the parents, we found that there is no statistically significant correlation between the general assessment of a child’s health and the type of chronic inflammatory bowel disease (X² (2) = 5.925, p = 0.052). Also, there is no statistically significant correlation between the eating pattern and parents ’assessment of their child’s quality of life (U = 38.00, p. = 1.00). Discussion: The health care providers have an important role to play in giving appropriate information to parents to ensure the quality of life of the child. She teaches parents and children about living with chronic inflammatory bowel disease and emphasizes the importance of nutrition, which greatly contributes to a better quality of life.