Introduction:

In pediatric health institutions, through educational interventions, healthy practices are promoted, knowledge is increased, and parents' skills for the care of children are developed; however, few educational programs are available in the pediatric cardiovascular area in Peru.

Objective:

To evaluate the effectiveness of an educational program on knowledge, attitudes and care practices in companions of hospitalized children with heart disease.

Methods:

A quasiexperimental, pretest-posttest design study was conducted in 2020. Eighteen family members participated, who were accompanying children hospitalized at the thoracic and cardiovascular surgery service of Instituto Nacional de Salud del Niño, in Lima, Peru. Five sessions were held. A knowledge questionnaire, an attitude scale and a checklist were used to evaluate skills. To determine effectiveness during hospitalization, a pre-assessment and a post-assessment (one week after the completion of the sessions) were carried out. The Shapiro-Wilks normality test was used. Also, the Mann-Whitney U and Student's t tests were used to determine the difference in score.

Results:

The knowledge score increased from 10.94 to 22.33 points; the attitude score, from 7.83 to 25.00 points; and the practices score, from 49.89 to 87.94. These observed differences between pre-assessment and post-assessment were significant (p< 0.001).

Conclusions:

The educational intervention was effective, since it increased knowledge, attitudes and caring practices in companions of hospitalized cardiac children.

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