THE EFFECT OF HOME SAFETY EDUCATION PROGRAM GIVEN TO MOTHERS WITH CHILDREN WITH INTELLECTUAL DISABILITY ON THEIR ATTITUDES TOWARDS SAFETY MEASURES FOR HOME ACCIDENTS

Abstract

Introduction: To determine the effect of the Home Safety Education Program given to mothers with children with intellectual disability on their attitudes towards safety measures. Material and Methods: This study, in a single group semi-experimental design, was carried out in a Special Education Application Center in 2020 (n= 29 mothers). The dependent variable in this study is the mothers' attitude score towards home accidents. The Scale for Mother's Identification of Safety Measures against Home Accidents was used as data collection tool in the study. The Home Safety Education Program, consisting of 3 sessions for 2 weeks, was applied to the participants for home accidents. The data of the study were collected pre-intervention and 3 months later the intervention based on self-report. Descriptive statistics and Wilcoxon signed rank test were used to analyze the data. Results: In the study, the mean age of the mothers was 38.5 +/- 5.1, and the children were 13.5 +/- 2.6. Sixty-five percent of children with intellectual disability have had a home accident in the last year. The most common type of accident is falling with 51.7%. A statistically significant difference was observed between attitude scores pre-education (154.2 +/- 21.3) and post-education (188.0 +/- 4.3) regarding safety measures for home accidents of the mothers (z=4.704, p<0.001). Conclusion: The study shows that mothers with children with intellectual disability can learn the necessary information and gain a positive attitude to keep their children safe in the home environment. For future studies, we recommend that intervention studies be conducted for the prevention of falls in children with intellectual disabilities and to examine mothers' attempts at safety measures through home visits.