Assessment of Knowledge Levels Following an Education Program for Parents of Children With Inflammatory Bowel Disease

Abstract

Children with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and their parents have increasing roles in disease management and require sufficient, appropriate information for communication with their clinical team. Formal education is effective at improving disease knowledge, disease outcomes, and mental health, yet few interventions have been targeted for parents of children with IBD. A two day parent education program was held at the annual residential camp for children with IBD in New Zealand with knowledge levels tested pre and post intervention using a validated assessment tool: IBD-KID2. Thirty parents consented, 25 completed the study, 70% were female and 83% had a child with Crohn's disease. The pre-intervention mean score (maximum fifteen) was 10.6 (SD 2.9), with no associations with independent variables. Knowledge levels increased significantly following the education program to a mean 12.6 (SD 2.0) (p < 0.005). Disease specific knowledge may improve outcomes and should, therefore, be reinforced during clinic encounters, and regarded as an ongoing endeavor.

Keywords: IBD-KID2; educational intervention; internal consistency; knowledge deficiencies; residential camp.

Figure 1

Frequency of correct responses given to IBD-KID2 items. The vertical line defines areas of good knowledge (>50% correct) and poor knowledge (<50% correct). CAM, complementary and alternative medicines; EIM, extra-intestinal manifestations.

Figure 2

Change in IBD-KID2 scores from baseline to the post-education session repeat.

Figure 3

Change in frequency of correct responses between baseline and repeat administration for individual IBD-KID2 items.