Teaching parents about child health using a practice booklet

The parents of all the children under the age of five years in the practice were divided at random into an experimental and control group. One of the parents from each group, usually the mother, was then formally tested about her knowledge of the aspects of child care using a multiple choice questionnaire.Parents in the experimental group were then given a copy of a booklet prepared by the practice on three aspects of child care and presented to make them easily read and understood. Two or three weeks later the experimental group were requested to complete the same questionnaire again. The results show a statistically significant improvement in the knowledge of those parents who had received the booklet. We are encouraged by these results and new families with small children in the practice will be given this booklet and it will be reviewed and modified in the future.