The effectiveness of home accident education given face-to-face and through social media: A quasi-experimental study with a pre-test post-test control group design

The Effectiveness of Home Accident Education Given Face-to-Face and Through Social Media: A Quasi-Experimental Study with a Pre-Test Post-Test Control Group Design This study was conducted as a quasi-experimental research with a pre-test post-test control group design, with the objective of comparing the knowledge levels of mothers who received education on 'Home Accidents and Precautions' for children aged 0-6, through both face-to-face and social media channels. The researcher worked with mothers who visited the Pediatric Health and Diseases Clinic starting from November 30, 2023, and who had children in the 0-6 age group, met the inclusion criteria, and were willing to participate in the study, until the sample size was reached. Group assignments were made using random sampling based on the days of the week, with mothers being divided into three groups (face-to-face education, social media, control). To detect differences in measurements between groups, a type 1 error of 0.05, type 2 error of 0.20, and an effect size of 0.25 were used to determine the sample size. It was established that each group should have at least 53 individuals, making a total of at least 159 participants. The research data were collected using a personal information form prepared by the researchers, the Scale for Diagnosing Safety Precautions Taken by Mothers Against Home Accidents in Children Aged 0-6, and a social media evaluation form for the social media group. The face-to-face education group received their training on the same day as the pre-test application, in the nurse's room at the clinic, in groups of no more than five, through a PowerPoint presentation. At the end of the training, brochures were distributed to the mothers.After the pre-test at the clinic, the social media group was requested to follow a designated social media account, and the education began once the number of participants reached the sample size. The social media training was carried out over 21 days using Instagram posts and stories. No training was provided to the control group following the pre-test. All mothers were called 21 days after the pre-test application, and they were administered the post-test as well as the last two questions of the personal information form. The social media evaluation scale was also applied to the social media group. For analysis, the SPSS (IBM SPSS for Windows, version 26) statistics software package was used. In the study, the normality of continuous measurements was assessed using the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test (for n>50) and Skewness-Kurtosis tests, and since the measurements were normally distributed, parametric tests were applied. Descriptive statistics for continuous variables in the study were expressed as mean, standard deviation, minimum, maximum, count (n), and percentage (%). "One-Way Analysis of Variance (ANOVA)" was used to compare continuous measurements across groups. Following the variance analysis, the "Duncan test" was used to determine the different groups. "Paired T-test" was utilized to compare the changes between "Pre-Test" and "Post-Test" scores. The level of statistical significance was set at p<0.05 for the calculations. Mothers reported having prior experience with home accidents at a rate of 95% affirmatively before the education. For all groups, the most frequent type of accident was falls. In response to the question "Did you experience a home accident after participating in the study?" 34 mothers answered yes, and 146 mothers answered no. It was found that the group with the highest incidence of home accidents after joining the study was the control group (n=13), followed by the face-to-face education group (n=12), and the social media group (n=9). All mothers received an average score of 140 after the pre-test application. This score increased to 162 after the post-test application. A statistically significant difference was observed in the "Pre-Test Post-Test score difference" among the mothers "by group" (p=0.001). The groups were ranked according to the magnitude of the score difference as "Face-to-Face Education group, Social Media education group, and Control group". In the "Face-to-Face Education group," there was a significant increase in the scale score after the education (p=0.001). Similarly, in the "Social Media Education group," the scale score significantly increased after the education (p=0.001). In the "Control group," no statistically significant difference was observed between the "Post-Test - Pre-Test" scale scores (p>0.05). The pre-test post-test score differences for mothers who received education on 'Home Accidents and Precautions' for children aged 0-6, through both face-to-face and via social media, were found to be significant. When comparing the two methods of education, it is seen that the face-to-face education group showed more improvement compared to the social media group. Key Words: Education, Home Accidents, Health, Social Media