The Effect of Blended Instruction on Improving Knowledge and Practice of Parents of Children with Chronic Kidney Disease in the Therapeutic Care of Children

Background: Due to the low knowledge and practice of parents in the therapeutic care of sick children and the importance of blended instruction in families, we aimed to determine the effect of blended instruction on improving knowledge and practice of parents of children with chronic kidney disease (CKD) in the therapeutic care of children. Materials and Methods: In this quasi-experimental study, 42 parents of children with CKD participated, who were referred to the Nephrology Clinic of Abuzar Children's Hospital in Ahvaz, Iran were selected and randomly divided into two equal groups of interventional and control (n=21). First, both groups completed the demographic questionnaire, the parental knowledge questionnaire about CKD, and Family Assessment Device. For the intervention group, the researcher performed blended educational intervention including lecture, educational videos, and compact discs for 4 sessions of 90-minutes, whereas no educational intervention was carried out for the control group. Data were gathered one month after educational intervention and analyzed using SPSS software version 22.0. Results: There was no significant difference in the mean scores of parental knowledge (p = 0.38), and in the mean scores of general family practice (p=0.75) between the two groups before the intervention; while after the intervention, there was an essential difference in the mean scores of the parental knowledge and general family practice between the two groups (p<0.001). However, there was no significant difference in the knowledge and practice domains before and after the intervention in the control group. Conclusion: Blended Instruction can be used as an effective way to increase knowledge and practice in parents of children with CKD in the therapeutic care of children.