The Effect of a Designed Care Plan on Mothers’ Performance in Caring for Infants with Pneumonia

Introduction. Most factors which make infants susceptible to pneumonia arise from incorrect infant care in the family and also insufficient knowledge of mothers about correct infant care which makes this problem even worse. The present research was carried out to determine the effect of a Designed Care Plan on mothers' performance in caring for the infants with pneumonia in Children Medical Center in Tehran. Methods. In a quasi- Experimental study 66 mothers of hospitalized infants aged between 1-12 month and suffering from pneumonia, were selected by convenience sampling method and assigned randomly to two experimental and control groups. Data collection tools included questionnaire and observational-interviewing checklist. The designed Care Plan was presented both theoretically and practically to the experimental group at home with an eye to the strengths and weaknesses of mothers’ performance and their need, while the control group received only the current care program. The mothers’ performance in infant care was assessed during repeated measurements before and after the intervention. All study subjects were followed for 3 months after the intervention. Results. The mean score for mothers' performance in infant care during pneumonia showed a significant increase in the experimental group and a significant decrease in the control group, after the intervention. While, there was a significant difference between the mean score of mothers' performance in prevention of reinfection with pneumonia before and after the intervention in the experimental group. Moreover, there was a significant difference between the total score of experimental and control groups in infant care during the disease and also in prevention of reinfection with pneumonia, after the intervention. Conclusion. Using a Designed Care Plan is an effective approach for improving mothers’ performance in caring for infants suffering from pneumonia moreover, the results indicated that home-training is a good strategy in the betterment of mother’s caring behaviors.