Knowledge, Belief, Practice of Selecting Mushrooms for Cooking and the First Aid on Patients with Mushroom Poisoning of Mushroom Experts Trakanphuetphon District, Ubon Ratchathani Province

Abstract

The objectives of the action research were to assess knowledge, beliefs, practice of selecting mushrooms for cooking, the first aid for patients with mushroom poisoning, and to gather knowledge for producing a guidebook about poisonous mushroom. The 124 participants who were experts and had expertise in mushrooms collection (116 individuals) and 8 patients suffering from mushroom poisoning. Data were collected by using questionnaires and focus group discussion; and were analyzed by frequency and percentage for quantitative data, and content analysis for qualitative data. The results of research showed that the overall knowledge of mushroom was at high level (77.4% of the aticipants), 62.9% had moderate level, and 79.8% of them had incorrect practice. The issues that need to be corrected: taking domperidone immediately after eating poisonous mushrooms, the belief that eating mushrooms that ever grown in pesticide-use vicinity would not be poisonous, the practice of observing the change of boiled rice’s color. Issues identified in the qualitative study included the issues on mushroom names, profiles of poisonous mushrooms, factors affecting severity of symptoms, and first aid for mushroom poisoning. As a result, the authors had compiled their findings and knowledge to develop a “guidebook poisonous mushrooms,” which was widely disseminated to enhance knowledge, beliefs, and practice on the selection of safe mushrooms for cooking.