Educational Intervention Improves Caregivers' Knowledge of Medication Poisoning in Children

Strategic Insights -

A recent study from King Saud University aimed to assess the level of medication poisoning knowledge of children's caregivers and design an educational intervention to prevent acute medication poisoning among children. The research revealed that a simple educational session significantly improved caregivers' knowledge of medication poisoning prevention and control. The study's findings suggest that caregivers with a low educational level and those with more than two children were more likely to have higher knowledge scores.

Key Takeaways:

  • The study used a predesigned structured interview questionnaire to assess caregivers' knowledge before and after an educational session on medication poisoning prevention.
  • The educational session included topics such as the definition of poisoning, symptoms, prevention, and control of medication poisoning at home, as well as guidelines for administering and storing medications.
  • The study included 110 caregivers of medication-poisoned children and found that the mean total knowledge score increased from 2.65 ± 1.82 to 29.09 ± 3.76 after the educational session.
  • Two factors were significantly associated with caregivers' knowledge scores: low educational level and having more than two children (p = 0.016 and 0.034, respectively).
  • The study's findings suggest that an educational intervention can be an effective way to improve caregivers' knowledge of medication poisoning prevention and control.
  • Mostafa Arafa, Cancer Research Chair at King Saud University, and his team designed and implemented the educational session as part of their research.
  • The study's results were published in the Egyptian Pediatric Association Gazette and are available online.

Statistics:

  • 110 caregivers of medication-poisoned children were included in the study.
  • The mean total knowledge score increased from 2.65 ± 1.82 to 29.09 ± 3.76 after the educational session.
  • Caregivers with a low educational level had a mean knowledge score that was 14.34 points lower than those with a higher educational level (p = 0.016).
  • Caregivers with more than two children had a mean knowledge score that was 6.46 points lower than those with fewer than two children (p = 0.034).

Sources:

  • Egyptian Pediatric Association Gazette, 2025,73(1):1-9
  • doi: 10.1186/s43054-025-00375-6
  • NewsRx LLC, Health & Medicine Week, 2025, p 2439
  • Mostafa Arafa, Cancer Research Chair, College of Medicine, King Saud University
  • Esraa Abd El-Aziz, Mohamed Tahoun, Asmaa El-Banna