TITLE:
Education of Parents When a Child Born with an Imperforate Anus; Does It Improve the Health of the Child?
AUTHORS:
Thi Hoa Chu, Thi Hoa Duong
KEYWORDS:
Imperforate Anus, Participation, Education for Parents
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Pediatrics,
Vol.5 No.1,
March
25,
2015
ABSTRACT: Objectives: To describe and investigate the
value of an education program for parents of children born with an imperforate
anus in order to help them cope with the new situation of having a stoma. A
comparison is made with a group of parents following routine hospital. A
secondary aim was to illuminate the parents’ feelings and concerns in the first
month after the birth of the child. Subjects and methods: The program was
tested in 20 Vietnamese mothers of babies born with an imperforate anus; 10
followed an intervention comprising an education program and 10 the ordinary
routine hospital. The study design is both qualitative and quantitative. The
mothers were interviewed, using open-ended questions, within a week of their
child’s birth and then repeatedly for up to one month. Finally, the conditions
of children were accessed on their return to the hospital for the second
operation after one month of care at home. The qualitative data were subjected
to content analysis. Results: All mothers felt sad and worried in the
beginning, but this quickly changed to confidence, particularly among mothers
in the intervention group who received education. While at home, mothers in
both groups had financial concerns, as they were unable to work as much as
expected and also had to buy equipment for colostomy care. The mothers in the
control group complained about a lack of knowledge and how it affected the care
of their child. The mothers in the intervention group, however, felt confident
in their caring even at home. When the families returned for the second operation,
the children in the intervention group were significantly healthier, had
increased more in weight, and had fewer complications and emergency return
visits to hospital compared to the control group. In the control group skin
problems around the stoma, diarrhea, bleeding or constipation while at home
were reported (p