Effect of Social Media Platforms Education regarding Early Ambulation on Mothers’ Knowledge and Practices Caring for Children with Congenital Heart Defects post Cardiac Catheterization

Background: The whole family experiences stress when a child is diagnosed with heart disease. Families are currently concerned about their child's health. During this period, nurses are crucial in informing parents or other caregivers about the child's condition, the procedure, and the care provided before and after the procedure. Aim: To bridge the gaps, this study was done to determine the effect of social media platforms education regarding early ambulation on mothers’ knowledge and practices caring for children with congenital heart defects post cardiac catheterization. Design: To accomplish this study a quasi-experimental research design pre-post- test was used. Settings: The study was conducted at Sohag City in Egypt. Sample: A purposive sample of 200 mothers of children with congenital heart disease was enrolled in the study after cardiac catheterization was obtained from social media such as Facebook and WhatsApp groups, 2023 which the online Google form spreadsheet was opened from the first day of June 2023 to the end of June 2023, it was closed. Tolls of data collection: Tool I Mothers’ knowledge Questionnaire Sheet Tool (II) Mothers’ Reported practices of Early Ambulation. Results: The present study revealed that there were highly statistically significant differences between mothers’ knowledge and practices caring for children with congenital heart defects post cardiac catheterization pre and post-implementation of the social media platforms education at P=<0.001. Conclusion: the study concluded that social media platforms education achieved significant improvements in the mothers’ knowledge and practices. Recommendations: The social media platforms education should be applied and carefully planned for all for mothers of children with congenital heart defects post cardiac catheterization as a new teaching method for proving health issues. Brochures included guidelines for mothers of children with congenital heart disease should be conducted, discussed, and integrated into rehabilitation programs.