One Size Does Not Fit All: Discharge Teaching and Child Challenging Behaviors

Area of Science:

• Pediatric Nursing
• Health Informatics
• Patient Education

Background:

• Effective discharge teaching and care coordination are crucial for positive patient outcomes.
• Children with challenging behaviors present unique needs in healthcare settings.
• Digital health interventions are increasingly used to support patient education and care transitions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the quality of discharge teaching and care coordination for parents of children with challenging behaviors using an interactive iPad application versus usual discharge care.
• To assess the effectiveness of a digital discharge teaching tool for a specific pediatric population.

Main Methods:

• A quasi-experimental longitudinal project comparing an interactive iPad application to usual discharge care.
• Data collected from parents of children with challenging behaviors (n=14) receiving the application and a control group (n=11) receiving usual care.
• Utilized the quality of discharge teaching scale-delivery subscale and the Care Transition Measure for evaluation.

Main Results:

• Parents using the iPad application reported lower scores on discharge teaching quality (M=8.2) compared to usual care (M=9.6).
• The application group also scored lower on the Care Transition Measure (M=2.44) than the usual care group (M=3.02).
• Moderate to large effect sizes (0.554-0.775) indicated significant differences, with the application being less effective for this subset.

Conclusions:

• The interactive iPad application for discharge teaching was less effective for parents of children with challenging behaviors.
• Alternative discharge teaching strategies may be necessary for this specific patient group.
• Further research with larger, targeted samples is recommended to address the unique needs of parents of children with challenging behaviors and improve their discharge experience.