Effect of a Health Belief Enhancing Program on Parent’s Behaviors in Prevention of Acute Respiratory Infection in Preschool Children
Keywords:
Health Belief Model, prevention behaviors, respiratory infections, preschool childrenAbstract
Parental behaviors significantly influence the health of preschool children, especially in preventing acute respiratory tract infections. This quasi-experimental study used a two-group pretest-posttest design to compare outcomes before and after program implementation. The sample, selected using cluster random sampling, consisted of 54 parents of children aged 3–5 years attending a child development center in Chiang Mai Province and was divided into an experimental and a control group (n = 27 each). The experimental group participated in a Health Belief Model-based program consisting of 8 activities over 9 weeks, while the control group received routine care. Research instruments included the health belief enhancing program and the parental care behavior questionnaire for respiratory infection prevention, with a Cronbach’s alpha coefficient of .87. The analysis employed repeated measures ANOVA. Parents in the experimental group showed significantly increased prevention behavior scores after program participation at both 6-week and 9-week follow-ups (p < .001), with significantly higher scores than the control group (F = 317.98, p < .001). The most improved behaviors included infection spread prevention (t = -17.00, p < .001), symptom observation (t = -6.80, p < .001), and infection avoidance (t = -15.16, p < .001) with significantly. The Health Belief Model-based program effectively and sustainably improved parental prevention behaviors. Pediatric nurses should implement this program as a guideline for promoting preschool children’s health.
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