Background: Respiratory tract infections are one of the most common causes of under-five 
morbidity and mortality. So, it is necessary for mothers to comply with preventive behaviors of 
respiratory tract infections. The aim of the study: was to assess the compliance of rural mothers 
with preventive behaviors of respiratory tract infection to their children. Subjects and methods: A 
descriptive research design was used in the study , and it was conducted in rural health unit at Nawag 
rural village – Tanta center - El Gharbia Governorate. Subjects: A convenience sample of 300 of 
rural mothers who are attending to the previous setting were included in the study. Tool of the 
study: One tool (a structured interview schedule) was used to obtain the necessary data for the 
study. It consisted of three parts as following: part (1): Socioeconomic status of rural mothers and 
health history of their under-five children. Part (2): Knowledge of rural mothers about respiratory 
tract infections (RTIs). Part (3): Assessment of compliance degree of rural mothers regarding 
preventive behaviors of respiratory tract infections (RTIs). Results: There was statistically 
significance positive correlation between total knowledge score, total compliance score of the 
studied rural mothers and family socio-economic status as (p=<0.001). Conclusion and 
recommendations: more than one-third of rural mothers had low level of knowledge, about onethird of them had moderate level of knowledge, and only one-quarter of them had high level of 
knowledge about RTIs. Furthermore, more than one-third of the studied rural mothers had moderate 
and higher compliance to preventive behaviors of RTIs while, only (17.3%) of them were having 
lower compliance with preventive behaviors of RTIs. So, we recommended continuous education 
and orientation programs for parents especially rural mothers of under-five children with RTIs to 
increase their knowledge and compliance with preventive behaviors regarding respiratory tract 
infections.