The effect of education using a mobile application on knowledge and decision of Iranian mothers about prevention of foreign body aspiration and to relieve choking in children: A quasi-experimental study

The aim of this study was to determine the effect of mobile-based education on mothers' knowledge and decisions about prevention of foreign body (FBA) aspiration and to relieve choking in preschool children. This is a quasi-experimental study in which 88 mothers whose children were registered in each selected kindergarten of the city of Rasht (in Iran) were selected by multi-stage cluster sampling. All mothers were educated through lectures. Then, in the control group, an educational booklet and CDs were used, and in the intervention group, a mobile application was used. Mothers' knowledge and decision were measured by a researcher-made questionnaire before and after the lecture and four weeks after providing the interventions. Mann-Whitney, Wilcoxon, and Friedman tests were used to analyze the data. The level of significance was p < 0.05. The results showed that the mean scores of knowledge (n = 44, M = 13.47, SD = 1.84) and decision (n = 44, M = 8.52, SD = 1.30) of participants immediately and mean scores of knowledge (n = 44, M = 14.68, SD = 1.98) and decision of participants (n = 44, M = 9.56, SD = 2.15) four weeks after the educational interventions, in the intervention group, were statistically significantly higher than the control group. Intragroup comparison of the mean scores of knowledge and decision immediately and four weeks after educational interventions, showed that only in the intervention group did the mean scores have statistically significant increase, (p < 0.05). Mobile-based education was more effective in improving mothers' knowledge and decision about prevention of foreign body aspiration and to relieve choking in children than other educational methods. Mobile applications may be a new and effective method for providing education to parents. •Mobile-based educational application may increase mothers’ knowledge and decision-making ability in preventing foreign body aspiration in children.•Mobile-based educational application was shown to be effective for educating mothers about prevention of foreign body aspiration.•Mobile-based educational application may be an effective nursing intervention in improving the health of children.