Digital tool aims to teach mothers how to protect ITP children from infection
Study: Program significantly improved mothers' knowledge, attitudes, practices
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A three-week educational program delivered through WhatsApp may help mothers of children with immune thrombocytopenia (ITP) prevent Helicobacter pylori infection, a bacterial infection that has been linked to the development or persistence of ITP.
That’s according to a study involving 100 mothers of children with ITP, which found that the program significantly improved mothers’ knowledge about the infection, as well as their attitudes toward prevention and their self-reported infection-prevention practices.
Researchers noted that because “mothers play a pivotal role in infection prevention and disease management,” such a web-based educational program may represent “a practical and sustainable approach to strengthening family-centered care and supporting the comprehensive management of children with [ITP].”
The study, “Web-based education and maternal awareness of Helicobacter Pylori infection in children with immune thrombocytopenia,” was published in the Journal of Pediatric Nursing.
H. pylori bacteria may contribute to ITP development
ITP is an autoimmune disease in which the immune system mistakenly destroys platelets, the cell fragments needed for blood clotting. While the disease primarily affects the blood, growing evidence suggests that Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) infection may contribute to the development or persistence of ITP in some patients.
H. pylori is a bacterium that infects the stomach lining and is a well-known cause of chronic gastritis, stomach ulcers, and, in some cases, stomach cancer. The infection is usually acquired during childhood and spreads mainly through close person-to-person contact. It is particularly common in developing countries, where overcrowding, poor hygiene, and unsafe water sources increase the risk of transmission.
Because parents are largely responsible for children’s hygiene, healthcare, and daily routines, the researchers said, “increasing parental awareness, particularly among mothers,” could help reduce the spread of H. pylori and lower the risk of infection-related complications.
To explore that possibility, a team of researchers conducted a study to evaluate a WhatsApp-based educational program aimed at improving mothers’ understanding of H. pylori, encouraging preventive practices, and fostering positive attitudes toward infection prevention and management.
Mothers in program scored higher in areas of hygiene
The study enrolled 100 mothers of children with ITP who were considered at risk of H. pylori infection at two pediatric hematology centers in Egypt. Participants had to be responsible for their child’s daily care, be able to read and write, and have access to a smartphone with WhatsApp.
Half of the mothers participated in the educational program, while the remainder did not and served as a control group. Over three weeks, mothers in the intervention group completed six sessions featuring voice-recorded lectures, educational videos, illustrated materials, handouts, text messages, and interactive discussions through WhatsApp.
The two groups were similar in terms of the mothers’ age, education level, and sources of information about H. pylori. Before the intervention, most mothers in both groups had poor knowledge about H. pylori (90% in the intervention group and 92.9% in the control group) and inadequate infection-prevention practices (96% and 98%, respectively).
After the three-week program, mothers in the intervention group showed a significant improvement in their knowledge about H. pylori, whereas no significant improvement was observed in the control group. By the end of the study, 74% of mothers in the intervention group had satisfactory knowledge, compared with 14% of those in the control group.
Similarly, 68% of mothers in the intervention group reported adequate infection-prevention practices after the program, compared with 12% of mothers in the control group.
The findings underscore the important role of structured digital nursing interventions in enhancing maternal awareness and supporting positive caregiving behaviors related to infection prevention and disease management.
Compared with mothers in the control group, those who completed the educational program also scored significantly higher across all five practice domains assessed: hand hygiene, child hygiene, household hygiene, food and water safety, and medication administration.
However, after the researchers adjusted the overall practice scores for initial differences between the groups, the difference was no longer statistically significant.
Mothers who participated in the educational program also reported significantly more positive attitudes toward preventing and managing H. pylori infection than those in the control group, whereas attitude scores showed no significant change among mothers in the control group.
The researchers also found that mothers with greater knowledge about H. pylori tended to report better infection-prevention practices and more positive attitudes toward preventing and managing the infection. Likewise, better reported practices were associated with more positive attitudes. However, the team stressed that these associations do not establish cause-and-effect relationships.
“The findings underscore the important role of structured digital nursing interventions in enhancing maternal awareness and supporting positive caregiving behaviors related to infection prevention and disease management,” the researchers wrote. “However, further randomized studies with longer follow-up periods are needed to confirm the long-term effectiveness of these interventions and their impact on children’s clinical outcomes.”
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