E-ISSN:2456-3110

Research Article

Children among Parents

Journal of Ayurveda and Integrated Medical Sciences

2025 Volume 10 Number 8 August
Publisherwww.maharshicharaka.in

Knowledge Attitude and Practice of Ayurveda Treatment in Children among Parents

Arun B1, Athira S2*
DOI:10.21760/jaims.10.8.4

1 Arun B, Assistant Professor, Department of Kaumarabritya, Vaidyaratnam Ayurveda College, Ollur, Thrissur, Kerala, India.

2* Athira S, Specialist Medical Officer, Department of Kaumarabritya, National Ayush Mission, District Ayurveda Hospital, Kannur, Kerala, India.

Background: Ayurveda, the Indian System of medicine, has been practiced in India since ages. We evaluated the overall use of Ayurveda treatment in children of preprimary and primary classes of two schools in Thaikkattussery, Thrissur, Kerala.

Methods: A KAP study was conducted on parents of 100 children of preprimary and primary classes of two schools in Thaikkattussery, Thrissur, Kerala as per a paper-based survey using a standardized questionnaire.

Results: The study revealed majority of participants have knowledge about Ayurveda in common pediatric ailments and is using Ayurveda medicines. There is a lack of knowledge about use of Ayurveda in pediatric neurological and behavioral diseases. There is a need to spread awareness about the utility of Ayurveda in pediatric developmental and behavioural disorders.

Keywords: KAP survey, Kaumarabhritya, Ayurveda, children

Corresponding Author How to Cite this Article To Browse
Athira S, Specialist Medical Officer, Department of Kaumarabritya, National Ayush Mission, District Ayurveda Hospital, Kannur, Kerala, India.
Email: 		Arun B, Athira S, Knowledge Attitude and Practice of Ayurveda Treatment in Children among Parents. J Ayu Int Med Sci. 2025;10(8):17-20.
Available From
https://jaims.in/jaims/article/view/4594/

Manuscript Received Review Round 1 Review Round 2 Review Round 3 Accepted
2025-06-20 2025-06-27 2025-07-07 2025-07-17 2025-07-27
Conflict of Interest Funding Ethical Approval Plagiarism X-checker Note
None Nil Not required 12.65

© 2025 by Arun B, Athira S and Published by Maharshi Charaka Ayurveda Organization. This is an Open Access article licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ unported [CC BY 4.0].

J Ayu Int Med Sci 2025;10(8)17
Download PDFBack To ArticleIntroductionMethodologyObservationsResultsConclusionReferences
Arun B et al. Parental Attitudes toward Pediatric Ayurveda

Introduction

Ayurveda, the Indian system of medicine is being practiced in India since ages. According to WHO estimate about 70 percent of the world’s population uses herbal or traditional medicine to treat various ailments.[1] AYUSH has played an important part in the health care of India since years. In this scenario of medical pluralism, the level of awareness among patients regarding Ayurveda optimizes the success of healthcare system. Ayurveda has a personalized approach in predictive, preventive and curative aspects of medicine.[2,3]

Kaumarabhritya, one of eight branches of Ayurveda deals with pediatric care including neonatal well being. Care of child right from intrauterine life has been stressed in Ayurveda. All aspects from ped-iatric care including neonatal care, care of common gastrointestinal, respiratory, integumentary & nervous system diseases are well explained in Ayurveda with due consideration of strength (Bala) of child. Kerala, place where Ayurveda has major role in public health has seen considerable developments in area of Kaumarabhritya. Many public health programmes initiated by Government especially during COVID times has offered benefits of Ayurveda in modifying immune status & general health of child. We did this study to investigate level of knowledge, attitude & practice of parents about use of Ayurveda in pediatric population.

Methodology

This was a cross-sectional questionnaire-based study done among parents of preprimary and primary classes of Thaikkattussery School during November 2024.

Sample Size

100

Eligibility Criteria

Parents of preprimary primary school children of Thaikkattussery school who could understand Malayalam or English and gave informed consent

Data collection tool

The survey was conducted using a standardized paper-based questionnaire developed and validated by faculties of departments of Vaidyaratnam Ayurveda College, Ollur.

The questionnaire was designed by faculties of Department of Kaumarabritya, Vaidyaratnam Ayurveda College, Ollur after literature review and content validity was confirmed by 3 experts in the field.

The first part of the questionnaire enquired about demographic characteristics (age, gender, religion, area of residence and socioeconomic status) and second part contained data on knowledge and attitude about the use of Ayurveda in children and third part contained data on practice of Ayurveda in children.

Observations

Demographic and socioeconomic characteristic of participants

VariableAyurveda user in %Ayurveda non userTotal
Mean age (in years)36.334.235.8
Men301747
Women332050
Hindu502474
Muslim8614
Christian5712

Knowledge and attitude of participants about Ayurveda

SNQuestionYesNoDon’t know
1.What does Ayurveda treatment for children include
  • Herbal drugs
10000
  • Metallic and herbal
204040
  • Diet
404020
  • Panchakarma
84160
2.Ayurveda is effective in treating
  • Acute disorder such as fever in children
345610
  • Issues with appetite and weight gain
68239
  • Developmental delay
334522
  • Behavioral disorders like autism
126523
3.Is it safe to give Ayurvedic medicine to your child without physicians consultation452530
4.Can Ayurvedic medicine be given with modern medicine to your child244620

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Arun B et al. Parental Attitudes toward Pediatric Ayurveda

Practice of Ayurveda among children

SNQuestionAgreeDisagree
1. Have your child undergone any Ayurvedic treatment6337
2. Reason for not taking Ayurvedic treatment
  • Costly
793
  • Longer recovery period
3664
  • Non palatability
5743
3. Reason for taking Ayurvedic treatment
  • No side effect
6139
  • Complete cure
3268
  • Nearest available ayurvedic institution
0397
  • Familial
496
  • Can’t take other forms of medicine
0100
4. Result obtained through Ayurvedic treatment and medicine
  • Complete cure
6436
  • Partial cure
2674
  • No cure
991
  • Increase of disease
199
5. Does children show interest in taking Ayurvedic medicine
  • Yes
4654
  • No
2872
  • Sometimes
1684
  • Eat by force
1090
6. Do you think Ayurvedic treatment is safe and effective for children
  • Safe and effective
9010
  • Safe but not effective
9010
  • Neither safe nor effective
199

1. Knowledge and attitude

All of the parents believed that Ayurveda treatment includes herbal drugs. Regarding the use of metallic drugs only 20 percent of parents is aware of the use of metallic drugs in Ayurveda. Diet is also included as a part of Ayurveda treatment according to 40 percent of the participants. 84 percent of parents believe that Ayurveda treatment for children includes Panchakarma therapies.

Regarding the spectrum of diseases managed by Ayurveda 68 percent of them are aware of the scope of Ayurveda in gastrointestinal disorders, only 34 percent opine ayurveda is effective in acute illnesses, 33 percent of the parents are aware of the effectiveness of ayurveda in developmental disorders and only 12 percent is aware of the utility of ayurveda in behavioural disorders. Regarding the safety of medicines 45 percent opine it is safe to give medicines without physician’s consultation and 24 percent opine giving ayurvedic medicines along with modern medicine.

2. Practice

Among the participants 63 percent has undergone Ayurveda treatment for their children. Among the 37 percent of children who haven’t taken any any ayurvedic treatment attributed poor palatability as the main reason, 36 percent also opined about longer recovery period and 7 percent attributed to the cost of Ayurveda medicines as the reason. Among the 63 percent of children who took Ayurveda medicines, absence of side effect for the medicine was pointed as the main reason and 32 percent also stressed that complete cure as been obtained with Ayurveda and this as the reason for taking Ayurveda medicine.

Regarding the results obtained through Ayurveda treatment 64 percent obtained complete cure with ayurveda medicine, 26 obtained only partial cure, 9 percentage of then had no cure and 1 of the had an aggravation.

Regarding the palatability 46 percent of them opined that the medicines are palatable and children are taking them with ease, 28 percent of children does not show any interest in taking medicines and 10 percent need to be fed by force. Regarding the safety and efficacy 90 percent opine that Ayurveda medicines are safe and effective and 1 percent only believe that ayurveda is neither safe nor effective.

Results

Kerala is a place where Ayurveda has flourished in the most classical way with utmost stress for all the Ashtangas. The participants had a general knowledge about ayurveda medicines. Regarding the area of pediatric ailments utility of Ayurveda in gastrointestinal disorders are well known, but the scope of Ayurveda in developmental and behavioral disorders still remains unknown for the participants.


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Arun B et al. Parental Attitudes toward Pediatric Ayurveda

Majority of the children has used ayurveda medicines and lack of side effect of Ayurveda medicine is stressed as the main reason for its use. Palatability is one of the main reason for not taking medicines.

Safety and efficacy of Ayurveda medicines are also stressed as the strongest point of Ayurveda medicine. The study revealed that the utility of Kaumarabritya and benefits of Ayurveda medicines are known for the parents partially.

One of the thrust areas of Kaumrabhritya - the developmental and behavioural pediatrics remains less explored by the public. Further awareness should be given to the public so that the potential of Kaumarabhritya reaches a wider population.

Conclusion

Kaumarabhritya a branch which deals with the care of child in all aspects is known for the participants. Majority of them knows the benefits and utility of this branch of Ayurveda.

Spreading the utility of the branch to a wider parents will inculcate the practice of Ayurveda among children right from infancy right from a healthy daily regimes (Dinacharya), dietary practices and treatment of diseases.

Also, there is a need to create awareness about the safety and efficacy about the use of Ayurveda drugs in pediatric population. Addressing right from early childhood through Ayurveda helps provides a string foundation in critical events like physical, emotional, mental and behavioral development.

Further scope of study

Study may be repeated in different samples in different localities to know the use of Ayurveda. Similar study can be planned based on other branches of Ayurveda to know the knowledge, attitude and practice and further action plan based on the result can be devised.

References

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2. Mukerji M, Asher BP. Ayurgenomics: A new approach in personalized and preventive medicine. Science and Culture. 2011;77(1):10–17. Available from: www.scienceandculture-isna.org/journal.htm [Crossref][PubMed][Google Scholar]

3. Pandey MM, Rastogi S, Rawat AK. Indian traditional Ayurvedic system of medicine and nutritional supplementation. Evid Based Complement Alternat Med. 2013;2013:376327. [Crossref][PubMed][Google Scholar]

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J Ayu Int Med Sci 2025;10(8)20