Assessing mother’s antibiotics information by comparing internet and healthcare professionals as sources of informatics

Parents especially mothers view the internet as a source to obtain information about their children’s health care. This study was designed to assess mother’s antibiotics information by comparing the Internet and healthcare professionals as sources of informatics. A cross-sectional descriptive study was performed in the outpatient pediatrics clinics at the Children Hospital and Benghazi Medical Centre, from February 2018 to June 2018. The sample size was 308 mothers attending the outpatient pediatrics clinic during the period of data collection. Knowledge/beliefs, behaviors, adherence, and awareness of antibiotic resistance were determined through the analysis of data obtained from the questionnaires. Eighty-two percent of mothers had a poor level of knowledge and beliefs regarding antibiotic use; however, about half of the mothers had good behaviors toward the antibiotic and a good level of awareness of antibiotics resistance. Despite this poor knowledge, 61.7% of the mothers had an overall good Adherence to antibiotic use. Furthermore, half of the mothers obtained their information about the antibiotic from the internet. A good knowledge level and good awareness of antibiotics resistance levels were attained from the Internet source. Meanwhile a good behavior and good adherence regarding antibiotic usage were gained from a healthcare professional. In conclusion, mother’s good information showed a significant difference existed between the Internet and the healthcare professional sources. Therefore, this study recommends that healthcare professionals should educate mothers concerning online information. Moreover, there is a need to improve mother’s knowledge about antibiotics uses.