The effect of a shaken baby syndrome prevention program on mothers? knowledge and attitude, in two hospitals of ankara

Shaken baby syndrome (SBS) which results in serious health problems can be prevented by providing training to parents and increasing awareness about the dangers of shaking.The purpose of this study is to to evaluate the effectiveness of the training video of for parents in Turkey.This study is a three-stage intervention study In the first two stages mothers were tested before and after watching the video for evaluation of perception, and knowledge about SBS. In the last stage, two-four months after giving birth, a group of the trained mothers, (Group A), were compared with untrained control group (Group B).A total of 545 mothers; in the first 48 hours after birth (Group 1), 3-7 interday after birth (Group 2), pregnant (Group 3), were included in the study. Group A and B were compared to evaluate the permanence of the education.Total score of mothers? knowledge had an average of 5.0 ± 2.2, and 6.4 ± 1.7 in the pre and post-tests respectively (p = 0.001); Group 1 had significantly lower post test score compared to other groups (p = 0,001). The ratio of mothers who correctly remembered the target messages was statistically higher in Group A than Group B (p<0.05).In conclusion, ?SBS Prevention Program? was useful for mothers; their level of knowledge about dangers of shaking was increased and it was permanent until at least 2-4 months of age. The education given before birth and post-natal 3-7 days was found to be more useful compared to immediate post natal period.