Effect of mother's knowledge on posteducation toward rehospitalization of young children with pneumonia

Abstract Objective The rehospitalization rate of children <5 years old with pneumonia is still high. The risk of hospitalization becomes higher in mothers with low knowledge of their child's disease. The purpose of this study was to determine the effect of post–health-education maternal knowledge in cases of rehospitalization and to determine the differences in rehospitalization rate based on the type of health education media. Methods This study is a quasi-experiment. Health education was given to both groups: one group received education through audiovisual media and the other group through leaflet media. The level of post–health-education knowledge was measured on the third day, then followed up until the 30th day after the patient was discharged from the hospital. Results Post–health-education knowledge significantly reduced the cases of rehospitalization in both groups. However, the rehospitalization rate in the audiovisual group was lower than in the leaflet group (P = 0.047, odds ratio = 5.870). Conclusions Post–health-education knowledge is effective in reducing the risk of rehospitalization, and health education using audiovisual media is more effective, compared to health education using leaflets, in reducing the cases of rehospitalization in children <5 years of age with pneumonia.