Educational program effects on knowledge, attitude and performance of parents of thalassemia children: A quasi-experimental study

Abstract

Objectives: Most of the parents of thalassemia children do not have sufficient knowledge and proper attitude and performance in facing the process of their child's disease. One of the ways to reduce the problems of thalassemia patients is to improve the knowledge, attitude and performance of their parents to manage preventable problems through educational programs.Therefore, this study evaluated the impact of the teach-back care program on the knowledge, attitude and performance of parents of children with thalassemia. Methods: Sixty-two parents of children with β-thalassemia in Zabol, Iran participated in this quasi-experimental study. The samples were randomly assigned into intervention and control groups. A demographic questionnaire and a knowledge, attitude and performance scale for thalassemia patients were used for data collection. Results: The results of independent t-tests did not show a statistically significant difference in the knowledge and attitude scores before the intervention in the two intervention and control groups (P≥0.005). But after the intervention, a statistically significant difference was observed between the knowledge and attitude scores in the two groups (P≤0.001). Mann-Whitney U test, there was no statistically significant difference in the performance mean scores before the intervention in the two interventions and control groups (P≥0.005). However, after the intervention, a statistically significant difference was observed in the mean performance scores between the groups (P≤0.001). Conclusions: The results suggest the effectiveness of the teach-back method in improving the awareness, attitude and performance of parents of children with thalassemia in line with the implementation of their children's care plan.