Evaluation of information acquisition and information retention using a low-literacy booklet for illiterate caregivers of children with leukemia

• Main Author: Mosby, Terezie Tolar
• Format: Dissertation
• Language: English
• Published: ProQuest Dissertations & Theses 01-01-2011
• Subjects: Health education; Nutrition; Public Health Education
• ISBN: 9781124893815; 1124893814

At the 2006 meeting of the Asociación de Hemato-Oncología Pediátrica de Centroamerica y Caribbe, local nurses recognized food safety as one of the main problems they dealt with daily. Based on that information, food safety education program was developed. The program consisted of development, evaluation, distribution of the booklet "Alimentación del niño con cáncer [Feeding the child with cancer]", training of nurse educators to provide food safety education using the booklet, and testing of its efficacy. Development of the booklet included a survey in Guatemala and El Salvador hospitals and its review by a board of experts. Pre- and post-education tests were developed and validated by a board of experts. An Educators' speech was developed for consistency of education as well as a demographics questionnaire. The efficacy of the booklet was tested with 162 caregivers of patients with newly diagnosed leukemia in Guatemala and El Salvador. The demographics questionnaire revealed that more than 30% of caregivers did not have refrigerator to store food, 22% did not have a stove and 74% did not have a microwave. Eighty two percentages of families drank water which was not safe for a patient. The Wilcoxon Signed Ranks test was used to evaluate knowledge acquisition and retention after education with the booklet. Information retention was tested 1 month and 3 months after initial education. The Alimentación booklet was found to be efficient to educate about food safety ( p < 0.0001). There was no significant difference between post- educational knowledge in El Salvador and Guatemala at 1 month (p = 0.0918 and p = 0.0781) and at 3 months in Guatemala ( p = 0.3125). Pre-educational knowledge was not associated with any tested demographic variable except for self-reported ability to read in El Salvador (p = 0.0145). There was no significant association between information acquisition and demographic variables within each country. Caregivers from El Salvador had a better information acquisition than caregivers from Guatemala (p < 0.0001). Education using the low-literacy handout greatly improved food safety knowledge, which remained high 1 and 3 months after initial educational intervention.