The Effectiveness of Multimedia Education on Patients' Knowledge and Behavior on Fall Prevention

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Falls are considered a serious problem among hospital events. Patients in hospitals are at risk for falls due to unfamiliar and potentially high-risk environments, weak physical conditions, and medicines that may increase fall risk. AIM AND OBJECTIVE: There is some evidence that patient education is an important component of multifactorial interventions for falls prevention. Given that patient education has an effective role in falls preventions at hospitals, the purpose of this study was to evaluate multimedia education for preventing falls. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A quasi-experimental design was used to investigate the effectiveness of educational materials in fall prevention program at Masih Daneshvari hospital. The study was conducted in four models of a patient education program. Patients' knowledge and skill of fall prevention in the hospital were tested on admission (pretest) and day 7 (posttest). The intervention was delivered after admission in all groups. RESULTS: There were 204 patients in four intervention groups and 50 patients in the control group. The comparison of the intervention groups with the control group showed that the changes in knowledge and behavior in the group that used multimedia education were significantly higher compared to traditional education. CONCLUSION: The findings of the present study suggest that patient education can be considered one of the main strategies to prevent falls, especially in a hospital setting. Further, the use of multimedia education simultaneously with face-to-face training has a synergistic effect and increases the effectiveness of fall prevention education programs.