Educational intervention involving young mothers: Gaining knowledge on childcare

Abstract

Objective: Identify the knowledge of young mothers about daily childcare through an educational intervention, in search of support for comprehensive health care. Methods: Descriptive intervention study, involving 20 mothers between 16 and 25 years of age with children under three years of age, within the coverage area of a family health service. The educational intervention was based on five playful group dynamics, assessed by means of a pre and post-test, addressing themes about nutrition, hygiene, household accident prevention, managing a sick child at home and development in the first three months of the children's lives, before, immediately after the intervention and five months after the interventions. Results: Using an intragroup educational intervention, in the pretest, the mothers' knowledge ranged between good and excellent, a part being classified as regular and insufficient on some themes. In the post-test taken immediately after the intervention, the knowledge was classified between good and excellent while, in the post-intervention test, applied five months after the health education, the classifications regular and insufficient return. Conclusion: The mothers' knowledge gaining appoints that the educational intervention through games is a satisfactory strategy in health education about child healthcare. Nevertheless, the results suggest that it is important to keep up the educational actions at different times and in different contexts to guarantee the sustainability of knowledge and practices, contributing to comprehensive health care.