Abstract

Background: Household accidents are the main cause of mortality among children under 6 years. In many cases, these accidents lead to permanent disability and death in children.

Aims and Objectives: This study aimed to compare the effect of multimedia and short message service (SMS) as preventive behavior education in household accidents on knowledge, attitudes, and performance of mothers with 1–5-year-old children.

Materials and Methods: A total of 100 mothers with children between 1 and 5 years old were randomly selected. A data collection tool was a questionnaire to assess knowledge and attitude and performance of mothers in terms of preventive behaviors in household accidents. Descriptive statistics and inferential statistics were used for data analysis.

Results: The results showed a significant difference in mean scores of knowledge in SMS group before (25.63 ± 3.69) and after intervention (28.2 ± 3.38), knowledge in multimedia group before (22.62 ± 6.65) and after (28.86 ± 2.23), performance in SMS group before (24.26 ± 4.36) and after (28.62 ± 2.98), performance in multimedia group before (23.76 ± 6.50) and after (28.78 ± 2.0), and attitudes of mothers in SMS group before (36.75 ± 3.86) and after (38.62 ± 5.51).

Conclusion: The results showed that both SMS and multimedia education increased knowledge, attitude, and performance of mothers in the prevention of household accidents. Both SMS and multimedia methods were taught to mothers in studied centers to reduce childhood household accidents significantly.

Key words: Education; Preventive Behaviors; Household Accidents; Children; Short Message Service; Multimedia