The impact of an interactive, multifaceted education approach for congenital cataract on parental anxiety, knowledge...

The aim of our research was to examine the impact of a patient education program for parents of children with congenital cataract on parental stress, comprehension of disease information and parental satisfaction.

This prospective study included 177 parents of children with congenital cataract. The children were randomized into the following groups: the health education program with a multifaceted, interactive approach and conventional follow-up. Self-administered questionnaires were used for parental evaluation before and after the education program. The anxiety level, parental satisfaction and comprehension of the information were evaluated at each time point.

A multifaceted, interactive approach to education significantly reduced parental levels of anxiety compared with the conventional group (effect sizes: Parenting Stress Index, ƞ2 = 0.285; Ocular Treatment Index, ƞ2 = 0.346). This approach also improved comprehension-memorization scores (effect sizes: ƞ2 = 0.303) and parental satisfaction (p < 0.001). The impact of this new intervention was maintained for 6 and 12 months after the course.

The interactive, multifaceted education approach could efficiently improve the comprehension of disease-related information and parental satisfaction, resulting in significantly decreased parental anxiety.

This new patient education approach had a significant impact on congenital cataracts and may be generalized to other pediatric diseases.