The effect of simulation-based education on parental management of fever in children: a quasi-experimental study

BACKGROUND: Fever is a sign of illness in children and parents should receive educational interventions based on their needs to provide effective care for children. Simulation-based education provided by nurses for managing children’s fever can help improve the quality of parental care. Accordingly, this study aimed to explore the effectiveness of simulation-based education in the management of children’s fever by parents. METHODS: This quasi-experimental study was conducted using a pretest-posttest design with two groups on 90 parents of children with fever who visited Afzalipour Teaching Hospital in Kerman, Iran. The participants were randomly divided into two groups. The members of the intervention group received simulation-based fever management education and the parents in the control group received routine interventions. A demographic information form and the Parental Fever Management Knowledge and Practice Scale were completed by the participants in both groups before and after the intervention. The collected data were analyzed with SPSS 21 at a significant level of 0.05 (P = 0.05). RESULTS: The results of the study showed that there was a statistically significant difference between the mean scores of fever management knowledge in the intervention group before and after the intervention (30.51 ± 1.50 vs. 54.79 ± 2.55) (p < 0.05), while the control group showed no statistically significant difference before and after the intervention (29.81 ± 4.1 vs. 29.95 ± 2.80) (p > 0.05). Furthermore, there was a significant difference between the mean scores of fever management practice in the intervention group before and after the intervention (24.32 ± 0.89 vs. 37.51 ± 1.09) (p < 0.05). In contrast, the control group showed no statistically significant difference before and after the intervention (23.03 ± 0.90 vs. 21.98 ± 0.02) in terms of fever management practice (p > 0.05). The results of the independent samples t-test also showed that the mean scores of fever management knowledge and practice were not significantly different between the two groups before the intervention (p > 0.05) while there were significant intergroup differences after the intervention (p < 0.05). CONCLUSION: The results of the study showed that simulation-based education was effective in improving the parents’ child fever management knowledge and practice. Accordingly, professional care teams can prepare simulation-based education packages to improve parental care at home for children’s fever management.