Animation-assisted learning enhances caregivers’ knowledge of anticipatory guidance for children during a well-child clinical visit: A prospective study

Abstract

Purpose

To evaluate whether animation-assisted learning (AAL) enhances caregiver's knowledge of anticipatory guidance (AG) for children and determine the influence of the socioeconomic status during a well-child clinical visit.

Methods

We prospectively enrolled caregivers who presented for well-child checkups at a tertiary care center. Participants completed a pre-test, watched a 25-min animation on specific AG topics, and then completed a post-test. We collected information on the caregivers’ gender, parity number, educational level, age, and employment status and then analyzed test accuracy relative to select socio-demographic factors.

Results

We enrolled 150 caregivers (75 in the ≤3-month group, and 75 in the >3-month-to-7-year group). The pre- and post-AAL accuracy rates were 68.7% ± 14.5% vs. 88.2% ± 9.9% for the ≤3-month and 75.9% ± 13.1% vs. 92.3% ± 10.0% for the >3-month-to-7-year groups. Women, non-primipara caregivers, and college graduates in the ≤3-month group had better pre-test accuracy than their counterparts (p = 0.002, 0.002, and 0.004, respectively). Irrespective of socio-demographic factors, all caregivers demonstrated significantly improved AG knowledge post-AAL. Furthermore, college graduates or unemployed caregivers in the ≤3-month group showed improvements with AAL (p = 0.001 and 0.006, respectively).

Conclusion

Caregiver's knowledge level further improved post-AAL regardless of their socio-demographic backgrounds, highlighting AAL's effectiveness across diverse populations. The most substantial improvements were observed among higher-educated or unemployed caregivers with infants aged ≤3 months.