Effectiveness of Video Education on Mothers' Knowledge of Hazard Factors and First Aid Administration in Choking Incidents

Background: Choking is one of the most common types of unintentional injury that results in the death of children aged under 14 years. Objectives: This study aimed to assess the effect of providing mothers with video education on their awareness of choking hazards as well as methods of administering first aid to children aged between 6 months to 8 years. Methods: In this quasi-experimental study conducted from October to April 2021 in Dezful city of Iran, 110 mothers were divided into intervention and control groups by adopting convenience sampling method. The education program was run by offering two video presentations. Participants in both groups were asked to complete two questionnaires in order to evaluate their knowledge about first aid for choking children before and 30 days after the intervention. Data were analyzed based on frequency and Wilcoxon test using SPSS 16 software. Results: Mothers were found to have a very limited knowledge about the issues, including the right age for beginning chewing and smashing solid food in children, the most common food resulting in choking, and the best way to assess the risk of an object leading to choking of a child under the age of four. Furthermore, 10.9% of the mothers in the intervention group, as well as 12.7% of them in the control group were discovered to adopt Heimlich maneuver when facing the choking accident. The given percentages reached 67.3% and 16.4% in the intervention and control groups, respectively, after providing the mothers with proper training. Only 16.4% of mothers in the intervention group and 18.2% of them in the control group demonstrated the required knowledge of opening the airway in infants before the intervention. After offering the video education, however, this knowledge was increased by 68.5% and 20% in the intervention group and control group, respectively. Their knowledge of the risk factors for choking in control group (P = 0.000) and intervention group (P = 0.001) was significant before and after offering the video education; regarding the methods of administering first aid for choking children, however, the result was significant only in the intervention group (P = 0.000). Conclusions: Educating mothers may have improved their knowledge about the risk factors as well as the methods of dealing with choking children.