parent prefer Western medicine approaches to manage child-
hood fever, although some participants used traditional Chinese
medicine and Taiwanese folk remedies at home. Parental
knowledge about fever did not significantly correlate with
the use of complementary therapies. The range of treatments
used may reflect the lack of consistent advice from informa-
tion resources and may also reflect multicultural influences
(e.g., religious preferences).
Educational Program Consideration
We found that Taiwanese parents had relatively low fever
knowledge scores, did not understand information about
fever, and were dissatisfied with the information provided.
We also found that there was a significant relationship be-
tween parental knowledge of fever, level of concern, and their
management approach to childhood fever. These findings
suggest that level of education about fever is low and that the
current strategies used to educate parents about treatment
are not effective. Therefore, measures should be taken to
enhance parental knowledge of fever.
Participants in this study expressed concerns about the
potential adverse consequences of fever and were therefore
inclined to administer antipyretics. Hence, fever education
should also highlight the benefits of fever and note that fever
rarely results in brain damage, seizures, or mental retarda-
tion because of the body’s ability to self-regulate tempera-
ture. Moreover, causes of fever, symptoms of childhood fever,
and the process/management of fever should be covered. Al-
though our findings are consistent with previous study find-
ings regarding childhood fever and parental “fever phobia,”
differences do exist, particularly in terms of parents’ definition
Of childhood fever and in the cultural aspects of home