G54. A SURE START INITIATIVE TO REDUCE ACCIDENT AND EMERGENCY ATTENDANCES: ADULT EDUCATION HELPS PARENTS MANAGE COMMON CHILDHOOD ILLNESS

T.C. Kilgour, A.F. Mellon.

Sure Start Thorney Close, Sunderland; University of Leeds

Aims: Studies have suggested that professionals have considerable potential to empower parents to look after their own children when they have an acute illness by sharing knowledge and skills. The aims of this study were to develop a training package on common childhood illnesses for delivery to parent groups by a health professional and to undertake an initial evaluation of its effectiveness.

Methods: A group of ‘Sure Start’ parents identified their concerns when their children had an acute illness. They felt that anxieties might be reduced if they were knowledgeable about these illnesses and requested group teaching. A training package was developed and delivered to six successive groups. The final package consisted of six sessions of two hours, held over consecutive weeks. The package was evaluated using Kirkpatrick’s hierarchy of levels of evaluation of an educational intervention. Outcome measures used were parental satisfaction, knowledge gained and attendance at A&E and GP surgeries.

Results: 44 parents registered for the course. Attendance rates were high with 66% attending at least five of the six sessions. Qualitative and quantative analysis of the data provided strong evidence of the value of the course in terms of parental satisfaction and knowledge gained. There were 170 sessional response sheets completed. Parents indicated high levels of satisfaction; 298 positive and 39 negative responses. The difference in knowledge test scores between intervention and control groups was highly significant. Mean for the control group = 22.19 v intervention group = 29.44 (p<0.0005). Within the timescales and limitations of the study it could not be shown that attending the course changed consulting behaviour.

Conclusion: Initial evaluation has shown that an effective training package has been developed to address parental concerns and increase parental knowledge. Future research needs to …