Effectiveness of Maternal Enlightenment Program Regarding Prevention and Management of Diaper Related Problems on Knowledge and Reported Practice Among Mothers of Children Aged Less Than 3 Years

Diaper rash is a common problem which affects up to 50% of infants at some point causing discomfort and pain. The study was intended to assess the effectiveness of a Maternal enlightenment program regarding prevention and management of diaper related problems on knowledge and reported practice among mothers. The objectives of the study were to evaluate the effectiveness of Maternal enlightenmentt program on knowledge and reported practice regarding diaper related problems among mothers and to find out the association of knowledge and reported regarding prevention and management of diaper related problems with selected sociodemographic variables. The study was conducted using quantitative approach. A pre-experimental study was chosen; one group pretest post test was used for this study. Convenience sampling technique was used for this study. Sample size of 40 mothers of children aged less than 3 years attending the pediatric outpatient department and immunization clinic of PRS Hospital, Trivandrum are selected. Sociodemographic data sheet, a structured questionnaire to assess the knowledge and a checklist to assess the reported practice were used. It was found that 55% of mothers had moderate knowledge, 40% had poor knowledge and 5% had good knowledge. The mean knowledge score was 10.47 with a standard deviation of 2.27. Regarding reported practice, 62.5% of mothers had fair practice, 30% had poor practices and 7.5% had good practices. The mean practice score was 38.4 with a standard deviation of 2.65. After Maternal enlightenment program post test was conducted. And it revealed that 72.5% of mothers had adequate knowledge and 82.5% of mothers had good practice regarding prevention and management of diaper related problems. The mean knowledge score increased from 10.47 in the pre test to 17.12 in the post test. The mean practice score increased from 38.4 to 45.82 after intervention. There was significant association of knowledge and reported practice of mothers with age of child, feeding status, weaning started age, age of mothers, education status of mother, education status of father and number of diapers used. Paired ‘t’ test showed that there was a significant improvement between pre test and post test knowledge with ‘t’ value of 17.50 at p < 0.0001 and in practice with ‘t’ value of 15.86 at p < 0.0001. The study concluded that the Maternal enlightenment program was effective in improving the knowledge and reported practice of mothers regarding prevention and management of diaper related problems.