Abstract

Play is vital to a child’s development to promotes physical, emotional, social, and cognitive development. Every child, regardless of age, culture, social background, or financial situation, needs to play.1 In order to ensure their children’s physical and mental health, parents need to be knowledgeable of their play needs.2 This study was conducted to assess the knowledge and attitude of parents of different socioeconomic background about the play needs of children under five in a few chosen urban neighborhoods of Raipur, Chhattisgarh. Data was gathered from 90 parents of children under five years old using a survey strategy, descriptive explorative study design, and purposive sampling technique. Parents’ attitudes were evaluated using a modified 5-point Likert scale, and their understanding of their children’s play demands was evaluated using a structured interview sch edule. Data analysis and interpretation were done according to the objectives of the study using descriptive and inferential statistics. The results of the study revealed majority of samples 48(53.3 percent) had inadequate knowledge regarding play needs. The overall mean knowledge score was 11.91. Majority of samples 56(62.2 percent) had favorable attitude towards play needs of children. The overall mean attitude was 76.98. There was significant relationship found between the variables (age, sex, type of family, education of mother, occupation of father, occupation of mother) and knowledge of parents at p<0.05 level. There was no significant relationship found between the variables (religion, number of children, sex of child, education of father) and knowledge of parents at p<0.05 level. There was significant relationship found between the variables (education of mother, occupation of father, occupation of mother) and attitude of parents at p<0.05 level. There was no significant relationship found between the variables (age, sex, type of family, religion, number of children, sex of child, education of father) and attitude of parents at p<0.05 level. The results of study exposed the requirement of the play needs of the children. This indicates the need of rapid action to improve the knowledge of parents regarding the play needs for the optimal growth and development of children.

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