Abstract
Objective
Verify mothers’ cognitive learning on care for their premature infants through an educative activity based on a booklet.
Methods
Quantitative study with a quasi-experimental time-series design, involving mothers of premature infants hospitalized at two neonatal wards of a high-complexity hospital. A pre and post-test was applied to the control and experimental groups with a ten-day interval between the verifications of learning, analyzing the performance and comparing the groups by means of the Wilcoxon and Mann-Whitney tests. The intervention consisted of an educational activity using a booklet on care for premature infants. The control group participated in an activity traditionally offered at the neonatal wards where the study was undertaken, without the support of the booklet. The data collection took place in October 2016.
Results
Eighteen mothers participated in the study, eight of whom were allocated by convenience to the experimental group and ten to the control group. Intergroup comparison revealed a statistically significant difference (p=0.027) favorable to the use of the educative booklet in combination with health education for the mothers’ learning on care for their infants
Conclusion
The educative booklet on care for the premature infant is a resource that favors the mothers’ learning on the theme. Hence, it represents important technology for health education and favors the knowledge construction. At the health services, it can be used as a trigger and support for discussions and experience exchange.
Neonatal nursing; Premature; Health education; Mothers; Teaching materials