Middle School Students Effectively Improve Stroke Knowledge and Pass Them to Family Members in China Using Stroke...

Background and Purpose: This study tests the hypothesis that middle school and high school students can improve their stroke knowledge using Stroke 1-2-0, a stroke educational tool, and pass this knowledge on to their family members. Methods: A total of 625 students and 198 parents/grandparents participated in learning about stroke using Stroke 1-2-0. After a group training session for the students by a neurologist at school, the students took educational material to home and educated their parents/grandparents. A questionnaire was given to students, parents/grandparents before, immediately after, and 1 year after the educational event. Results: All participants agreed that Stroke 1-2-0 was a much easier tool to remember than FAST. Almost all the students (96.4%) remembered the meaning of Stroke 1-2-0 as compared to 7.3% from the base line (p < 0.001). The rate of complete Stroke 1-2-0 mastery from 96.3% fell to 84.4% at 3 months and 63.8% at 1 year after training (p < 0.001). Following education from children, the proportion of parents/grandparents who mastered Stroke 1-2-0 was significantly higher than baseline (79.9 vs. 24.8%). Conclusion: Middle school and high school students can effectively use Stroke 1-2-0 to improve their stroke knowledge and pass this knowledge to their family members. Sustained educational efforts and repeated educational events are needed though.