A pre-experimental study to assess the effectiveness of self-instructional module on knowledge regarding prevention and management of varicose veins among nursing officers residing in selected residential area of New Delhi

Introduction: Nursing officers are constantly exposed to rigorous physical stress attributed to abundant workload and also, they are not even provided with health coverage. Long working hours: Majority of the nursing officers have to work beyond the mandatory 6 hrs shift to more than 12 hrs. Apart from wages, nursing officers are not given employment benefits and gratuity and working in night shifts disrupt their work-life balance. Treatment is there such as acupuncture and acupressure etc. Objective To determine the level of knowledge on prevention and management of varicose vein among nursing officers using structured knowledge questionnaire.To develop the SIM on prevention and management of varicose vein among nursing officers.To evaluate the effectiveness of SIM on the prevention and management of varicose vein among nursing officers.To find the association with pre-test knowledge score and selected demographic variable (age, gender, educational qualification, years of experience.Methods: A quantitative approach & pre- experimental design was used for the study. The sample of 70 nursing officers selected by purposive sampling technique. Pre-test was conducted by administering a structured knowledge questionnaire on varicose veins prepared by the investigator. After the pre-test, the SIM on varicose veins was administered to the nursing officers and on the seventh day post - test was conducted using the same knowledge questionnaire on varicose veins.Results: The mean post-test knowledge score 28.9 was apparently higher than the mean pretest knowledge score 13.7. Computed ‘t’ value (t69=41.9, p<0.05) showed a significant difference suggesting that SIM on varicose veins was effective in increasing the knowledge of nursing officers regarding prevention and management of varicose veins. There was an association between the pretest knowledge score and selected demographic variables that is gender. There was no association among years in age, education qualification, marital status, years of experience, position adopted while working, previous knowledge of varicose veins, source of information and BMI. Conclusion: The pretest score showed that majority of nursing officers had average knowledge on prevention and management of varicose veins. After the introduction of SIM, the post test score showed that significant increase in knowledge of nursing officers on prevention and management of varicose veins. SIM proved in improving the knowledge regarding prevention and management of varicose veins.