Animated video vs pamphlet: comparing the success of educating parents about proper antibiotic use.
OBJECTIVE
The objective was to create an animated video to teach parents about the appropriate use of antibiotics and to compare their knowledge to parents who were provided with the American Academy of Pediatrics pamphlet. We hypothesized that the video format would result in improved comprehension and retention.


METHODS
This prospective randomized, controlled trial was conducted in an urban pediatric emergency department. Parent subjects were randomly assigned to a control group, a pamphlet group, and a video group and completed a survey at 3 time points. Analysis included the nonparametric matched Friedman test, Kruskal-Wallis test, and the Mann-Whitney U test. A 2-sided P value of < .05 was required for significance, and a Bonferroni-corrected P value of < .017 was required for paired comparisons.


RESULTS
Postintervention survey scores improved significantly in the pamphlet and video groups compared with baseline. The video group's follow-up scores were not significantly different from the postintervention-survey scores (P = .32). The pamphlet-group scores at follow-up were significantly lower than the postintervention-survey scores (P = .002). The control group's scores were similar at all 3 time periods. The pamphlet group had significantly better scores than the control group after the intervention (P < .001). The video-group scores exceeded the control-group scores at all 3 time periods.


CONCLUSIONS
An animated video is highly effective for educating parents about the appropriate use of antibiotics in the emergency department setting and results in long-term knowledge retention. The results of this study provide a foundation to further evaluate the use of animated video in additional populations.
Schnellinger
Mark
M
Department of Pediatric Emergency Medicine, Children's Hospitals and Clinics of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN 55404, USA.
Finkelstein
Marsha
M
Thygeson
Megan V
MV
Vander Velden
Heidi
H
Karpas
Anna
A
Madhok
Manu
M
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D002648:Child; D032882:Comprehension; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D006266:Health Education; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006786:Hospitals, Urban; D006801:Humans; D008910:Minnesota; D009040:Motion Pictures; D010174:Pamphlets; D010290:Parents / Q000193:education*; D011446:Prospective Studies; D012153:Retention, Psychology; D014741:Video Recording
D000900:Anti-Bacterial Agents