Effects of health belief development program among parents on perceptions and hand, foot, mouth disease preventive behaviors for pre school-aged children in child development center
Abstract:
Hand, foot, and mouth disease (HFMD) is an infectious disease and a major public health problem. It mostly affects children under age 5, and its solution thus benefits from parental involvement. This quasi-experimental research aimed to study the effects of a health belief development program for parents on HFMD perception and preventive behaviors for pre-school-aged children in a child development center. Sixty parents aged 21-59 were recruited via multi-stage sampling and divided into experimental (n = 30) and control groups (n = 30). The research tools consisted of experimental instruments which were health belief model program, video, the handbook for disease preventive behaviors and data collection tools were questionnaires. Data analysis included percentages, means, standard deviations, Chi-Square, Fishers exact test and independent t-tests. The results revealed that, after the intervention, the experimental group had a high level mean score of perceived susceptibility and perceived severity of HFMD (M = 4.36, SD = 0.46; M = 4.50, SD = 0.38), the highest level mean score for perceived benefits of preventive behaviors HFMD (M = 4.63, SD = 0.31), a lower mean score for perceived barriers to preventive behaviors regarding HFMD (M = 1.42, SD = 0.34), and a regular level mean score for HFMD preventive behaviors (M = 2.66, SD = 0.21). There were several changes in health beliefs: in the experimental group, post-intervention scorers for perceived susceptibility, perceived severity, and perceived benefits of HFMD preventive behaviors were significantly higher than in the control group (t = 2.370, p = .010, t = 2.158, p = .018, t = 1.935, p = .029 and t = 2.160, p = .017 respectively). Similarly, the experimental groups post-intervention perceived barriers score was significantly lower than the control groups score (t = -3.083, p = .002). The results of the study can be used by community practice nurses, health workers and administrators, or child development center teachers as guidelines for reducing HFMD pre-school-aged children.