Publication:

Caregivers’ perception and reported challenges experienced by children affected with nocturnal enuresis in Ibadan, Nigeria

Background Nocturnal enuresis (NE) is bedwetting (BW) at night; it is a childhood problem that involves a large number of children. However, the study aimed at investigating caregivers’ perception, and challenges experienced by the children affected with NE in Ibadan, Nigeria.

Methods The study utilized a descriptive case study to explore caregivers’ perceptions and challenges of NE on children and families using a multistage sampling technique to select 309 respondents. A semi-structured questionnaire was used in collecting data for this study and descriptive analysis statistics and Chi-square test were used for the analysis.

Results The results showed that 86.5% perceived NE as a psychological problem, and 83.3% perceived that bedwetting can be a result of the spiritual spell, NE as a source of shame (87.3%), bedwetting as a serious behavioural problem (94.4%) and teenage bedwetting as abnormal (94.8%). The study also that that 35.7% of the children exhibited unruly attitudes, 23.8% were bullied, 100.0% felt nervous most times, 39.7% felt intimidated, and 47.6% will rather keep to themselves by not socializing.

Conclusions The occurrence of nocturnal enuresis was high among children above ten years of age. Almost all caregivers perceived nocturnal enuresis as negative to the family. Hence, there is a need to design health promotion programs aimed at addressing these challenges and empowering both children and caregivers in the process for the resolution of the problem.