Volume 32, Issue 119 (August 2019)
IJN 2019, 32(119): 13-25 |
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Fatehi Pouladi H, Akbari Kamrani M, Javad Noori M, Farid M. Effectiveness of a Group Educational Program on the Knowledge, Attitude, and Participation Approach of Mothers in the Sex Education of Preschool Children. IJN 2019; 32 (119) :13-25
URL: http://ijn.iums.ac.ir/article-1-2947-en.html
URL: http://ijn.iums.ac.ir/article-1-2947-en.html
1- Student Research Committee, School of Medicine, Alborz University of Medical Sciences, Karaj, Iran
2- Assistant Professor, Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Alborz University of Medical Sciences, Karaj, Iran Tel: (+26) 34483105 Email: Dr.akbarikamrani@abzums.ac.ir
3- Associate Professor, Ahvaz University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran
4- Assistant Professor, Non-Communicable Diseases Research Center, Alborz University of Medical Sciences, Karaj, Iran
2- Assistant Professor, Social Determinants of Health Research Center, Alborz University of Medical Sciences, Karaj, Iran Tel: (+26) 34483105 Email: Dr.akbarikamrani@abzums.ac.ir
3- Associate Professor, Ahvaz University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran
4- Assistant Professor, Non-Communicable Diseases Research Center, Alborz University of Medical Sciences, Karaj, Iran
Abstract: (5885 Views)
Background & Aim: preschool students are vulnerable to sexual abuse due to not being taught the proper anatomical names for their body parts. Sex education reduces child sexual abuse if provided based on age and cultural conditions and presenting accurate and appropriate information about body parts and functions of each of them. On the other hand, education by knowledgeable parents will lead to both successful training and increased self-confidence in children. Therefore, parents, especially mothers, play a pivotal role in the sex education of children, which shows the necessity of sex education by parents. The present study aimed to assess the effectiveness of a group educational program on the knowledge, attitude, and participation approach of mothers in the sex education of preschool children.
Materials and Methods: This randomized, controlled, parallel clinical trial was conducted on 58 mothers with children aged 3-7 years employed at Alborz University of Medical Sciences in Karaj, Iran during May-September 2018. The inclusion criteria were being an employee at Alborz University of Medical Sciences, being a mother (or a guardian) of a child, being literate, literacy in Farsi language, and lack of attending child sex education courses in the past six months. On the other hand, the exclusion criteria were unwillingness to participate in the study and lack of participation in training sessions. Data were collected using a demographic form (nine items: child’s gender, child’s age, the birth rank of the child, number of children, maternal marital status and level of education, and paternal marital status and level of education) and a researcher-made questionnaire with three sections on maternal knowledge, attitude, and participation in the sex education of preschool children. The items of researcher-made tools were extracted from resources and related tools in the specialized field of preschool sexual education and based on the opinion of experts. In six-nine-member groups, the participants in the intervention group received three training sessions (90 minutes each) with 10-day intervals. In the intervention group, group education of mothers was carried out by a trained midwife under the supervision of a team of reproductive health professionals using methods such as brainstorming, one-on-one expression of experiences, animation, and summarizing similar problems of mothers in the field of child sex education. Finally, active learning was done in groups. The content of the sessions was, as follows: In the first session, the importance of the mother’s role in sex education of children was emphasized and the topics include the concept of sex education, teaching the right techniques of communication with children, familiarization with physiology and sexual behaviors of children. In the second session, the main topics were common questions of children, evaluation of various child sex education methods used by parents, enlightenment and confronting irrational and superstitious thoughts, and evaluation of mothers’ viewpoints. In the third session, the researchers focused on the education of skills to cope with and respond to curiosities and sexual behaviors and questions of children. In order to complete the discussed topics, an educational booklet was given to the members of the intervention group, and during the training sessions, reminders about completing the educational content were done with the help of cyberspace, SMS, and telephone calls for mothers. In addition, the researchers attempted to answer any questions raised by mothers. In order to observe ethics in research, an educational booklet was provided to the participants in the control group at the end of the study, and a workshop was held by the researcher to answer any questions in this area. The participants filled the questionnaires before and one month after the research. Moreover, data analysis was performed in SPSS version 16 using descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation, and frequency) and analytical tests such as paired and t-tests, Chi-square, and its non-parametric equivalents (Mann-Whitney U and Wilcoxon test).
Results: In this study, there was no significant difference between the intervention (32.28±3.71) and control (35.16±4.55) groups regarding maternal age (P=0.690). The difference between the groups was assessed using Chi-square. According to the results, there was no significant difference between the groups regarding the age range of child, child’s gender, number of children, child’s birth rank, marital status, marital level of education, parental level of education, and parental occupational status. The results of the Mann-Whitney U test indicated a significant difference between the intervention and control groups in terms of the mean score of maternal knowledge of the sex education of children after the educational program (P=0.007). The results were also indicative of a significant difference between the mean knowledge score of mothers in the intervention group before and after the intervention (P=0.002). In addition, the results of the independent t-test denoted a significant difference between the intervention and control groups in terms of the mean attitude score of mothers after the training (P=0.007). in addition, the mean attitude score of mothers significantly increased after education in the intervention group. In this regard, the mean attitude score of mothers increased by 6.28 after training (P=0.003). Moreover, the results of the paired t-test showed a significant difference in the mean score of the maternal participation approach in the two groups before and after the intervention as the score increased after the educational program (P=0.0001; t(24)=8.440).
Conclusion: According to the results, the mothers reported more participation in the sex education of their children after the educational intervention. In order to increase the participation of mothers in sex education of their three to the seven-year-old child, it is recommended to use group education based on knowledge in a stress-free environment. Therefore, it is recommended that seminars, workshops, and counseling sessions be provided for parents, as well as caregivers in child care centers. The need to attend these classes as ongoing retraining is inevitable to promote the participation of women who will become mothers in the near future concerned about the sexual development of their children. Attending these courses helps women provide a healthy sexual life in childhood, sexual health in a future life for their child, and maintain the foundation of the family. Since both parents and primary caregivers of the child play an important role in their sexual education, the lack of study of fathers was a limitation of this study. Therefore, it is suggested that fathers and caregivers be trained in similar studies.
Materials and Methods: This randomized, controlled, parallel clinical trial was conducted on 58 mothers with children aged 3-7 years employed at Alborz University of Medical Sciences in Karaj, Iran during May-September 2018. The inclusion criteria were being an employee at Alborz University of Medical Sciences, being a mother (or a guardian) of a child, being literate, literacy in Farsi language, and lack of attending child sex education courses in the past six months. On the other hand, the exclusion criteria were unwillingness to participate in the study and lack of participation in training sessions. Data were collected using a demographic form (nine items: child’s gender, child’s age, the birth rank of the child, number of children, maternal marital status and level of education, and paternal marital status and level of education) and a researcher-made questionnaire with three sections on maternal knowledge, attitude, and participation in the sex education of preschool children. The items of researcher-made tools were extracted from resources and related tools in the specialized field of preschool sexual education and based on the opinion of experts. In six-nine-member groups, the participants in the intervention group received three training sessions (90 minutes each) with 10-day intervals. In the intervention group, group education of mothers was carried out by a trained midwife under the supervision of a team of reproductive health professionals using methods such as brainstorming, one-on-one expression of experiences, animation, and summarizing similar problems of mothers in the field of child sex education. Finally, active learning was done in groups. The content of the sessions was, as follows: In the first session, the importance of the mother’s role in sex education of children was emphasized and the topics include the concept of sex education, teaching the right techniques of communication with children, familiarization with physiology and sexual behaviors of children. In the second session, the main topics were common questions of children, evaluation of various child sex education methods used by parents, enlightenment and confronting irrational and superstitious thoughts, and evaluation of mothers’ viewpoints. In the third session, the researchers focused on the education of skills to cope with and respond to curiosities and sexual behaviors and questions of children. In order to complete the discussed topics, an educational booklet was given to the members of the intervention group, and during the training sessions, reminders about completing the educational content were done with the help of cyberspace, SMS, and telephone calls for mothers. In addition, the researchers attempted to answer any questions raised by mothers. In order to observe ethics in research, an educational booklet was provided to the participants in the control group at the end of the study, and a workshop was held by the researcher to answer any questions in this area. The participants filled the questionnaires before and one month after the research. Moreover, data analysis was performed in SPSS version 16 using descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation, and frequency) and analytical tests such as paired and t-tests, Chi-square, and its non-parametric equivalents (Mann-Whitney U and Wilcoxon test).
Results: In this study, there was no significant difference between the intervention (32.28±3.71) and control (35.16±4.55) groups regarding maternal age (P=0.690). The difference between the groups was assessed using Chi-square. According to the results, there was no significant difference between the groups regarding the age range of child, child’s gender, number of children, child’s birth rank, marital status, marital level of education, parental level of education, and parental occupational status. The results of the Mann-Whitney U test indicated a significant difference between the intervention and control groups in terms of the mean score of maternal knowledge of the sex education of children after the educational program (P=0.007). The results were also indicative of a significant difference between the mean knowledge score of mothers in the intervention group before and after the intervention (P=0.002). In addition, the results of the independent t-test denoted a significant difference between the intervention and control groups in terms of the mean attitude score of mothers after the training (P=0.007). in addition, the mean attitude score of mothers significantly increased after education in the intervention group. In this regard, the mean attitude score of mothers increased by 6.28 after training (P=0.003). Moreover, the results of the paired t-test showed a significant difference in the mean score of the maternal participation approach in the two groups before and after the intervention as the score increased after the educational program (P=0.0001; t(24)=8.440).
Conclusion: According to the results, the mothers reported more participation in the sex education of their children after the educational intervention. In order to increase the participation of mothers in sex education of their three to the seven-year-old child, it is recommended to use group education based on knowledge in a stress-free environment. Therefore, it is recommended that seminars, workshops, and counseling sessions be provided for parents, as well as caregivers in child care centers. The need to attend these classes as ongoing retraining is inevitable to promote the participation of women who will become mothers in the near future concerned about the sexual development of their children. Attending these courses helps women provide a healthy sexual life in childhood, sexual health in a future life for their child, and maintain the foundation of the family. Since both parents and primary caregivers of the child play an important role in their sexual education, the lack of study of fathers was a limitation of this study. Therefore, it is suggested that fathers and caregivers be trained in similar studies.
Type of Study: Research |
Subject:
nursing
Received: 2019/05/6 | Accepted: 2019/08/5 | Published: 2019/08/5
Received: 2019/05/6 | Accepted: 2019/08/5 | Published: 2019/08/5
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