Descriptive cross sectional data analysis methods

Antibiotic resistance places a serious burden on the health economy since infections due to resistant bacteria require more specific and expensive antibiotics in order to heal. In England for example, approximately 70% of all antibiotics are prescribed for URIs. In primary paediatric practice, a very frequent reason of antibiotic prescription is due to Upper Respiratory Infections (URIs) as children suffer from more than five URIs per year. There has been strong evidence that antibiotic overuse or misuse has been correlated with increasing bacteria resistance. The study findings were satisfactory regarding the development of a reliable instrument capable to measure parents' KAP characteristics. The response rate and the completeness of the questionnaires were higher than expected, probably attributed to the involvement of the teachers. Limitations of the study, such as the vocabulary and form of the questionnaire and the idiocycrancy of the respondents, emerged during the analysis. However, only items that increased the Cronbach when added were eventually included in the final scales raising the internal consistency to 0.68. The reliability of the questionnaire was 0.55. The questions were factor analyzed and 10 out of the 21 extracted factors were finally evaluated, reducing the number of independent variables to 46. The section describing parents' attitude toward antibiotic use was not completed as much as the sections of knowledge or practices. Three questions out of 70 were answered in a very low rate which was associated mostly with immigrant respondents. Sixty Р Р†Р вЂљРІР‚Сљ eight point nine percent of the sample returned questionnaires fully completed, while 91.5% completed 95% of the questions. Islands presented the lowest response rate while in Northern Greece the response rate was the highest.

The response rate of the parents was 69%. Cronbach index test and factor analysis were used to assess the reliability of the questionnaire. The influence of demographic characteristics (i.e. The participants consist of a multistage geographical cluster sample of 8000 parents. A postal survey was set, in a national sample of 200 schools stratified by geographical region. Literature review, along with pre Р Р†Р вЂљРІР‚Сљ testing yielded a questionnaire designed to assess the parents' KAP Р Р†Р вЂљРІР‚Сљ level. Finally, to note any limitations of the study. The objective is to describe the process of developing a questionnaire to assess parents' Knowledge, Attitude and Practices (KAP) concerning the role of antibiotics when children suffer from URIs, as well as to evaluate the response rates, the completeness and the reliability (Cronbach) of the questionnaires. The cause is usually viral, but parents' attitude often contributes to inappropriate antibiotic prescribing, promoting antibiotic resistance. Upper Respiratory Infections (URIs) are common in children.

Descriptive cross sectional data analysis methods