Newly designed ROP educational materials improve parent understanding, follow-up compliance
Educational material on retinopathy of prematurity (ROP), which adhere to health literacy guidelines, has a significant impact on improving parent understanding of ROP, the perceived importance of follow-up care, and subsequent outpatient follow-up attendance rates, according to a study.
The study, which involved parents of premature infants at risk of developing ROP, employed a repeated-measures design to assess the effectiveness of the educational materials. The ROP educational materials were redesigned to align with current reading level guidelines from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the American Medical Association (AMA). Participating parents completed surveys before and after receiving either the materials currently available on the website of the American Association for Pediatric Ophthalmology and Strabismus (AAPOS), or the newly designed materials.
The results of the study showed a significant improvement in parent knowledge of ROP after receiving the educational materials, regardless of whether they used the AAPOS materials or the new materials. Parent ROP knowledge scores increased from 55.9% to 83.7% after receiving AAPOS materials and from 60.9% to 91.8% after receiving the new materials. However, the average post-survey ROP knowledge scores were significantly higher among participants who received the new materials, with scores reaching 91.8% compared to 83.7% with the AAPOS materials.
Both groups showed improved attendance rates, but the new materials group demonstrated a higher rate of improvement compared to the AAPOS materials group. The follow-up attendance rate increased from 68.2% to 80.0% in the new materials group, while the AAPOS materials group experienced a slight increase from 68.2% to 73.7%.
Reference
McCahon H, Chen V, Fernandez Paz E, et al. Improving follow-up rates by optimizing patient educational materials in retinopathy of prematurity. J AAPOS. 2023;S1091-8531(23)00085-X. doi: 10.1016/j.jaapos.2023.04.002. Epub ahead of print. PMID: 37187407.
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