title: Designing and evaluating a health education session on respiratory infections addressed to caregivers of children under three years of age attending day-care centres in Porto, Portugal: A community-based intervention.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Acute respiratory infections (ARI) are common in children, increasing the pressure on clinicians to prescribe antibiotics and affecting public health Objectives: This study aimed to design a health education session (HES) for caregivers of children, and to evaluate its effects on caregivers' needs, as well as on their knowledge and attitudes concerning ARI.
  
  
  METHODS
  A generalized model of developing, implementing and evaluating a community-based intervention was followed, including caregivers of children under three years of age. Caregivers were randomly distributed into an intervention group (IG) (n = 41) and a control group (CG) (n = 51) and the HES was administered to the IG. The caregivers' needs as well as knowledge of and attitudes to ARI were evaluated in both groups, before (M0) and two months after the HES (M1).
  
  
  RESULTS
  At M0 the caregivers from both groups had 'some or great need' about all HES domains; at M1 the caregivers in the IG expressed 'no or low need', whereas the CG maintained 'some or great need' about all HES domains (0.011 ≤ P ≤ .047). Concerning caregivers' knowledge of and attitudes to ARI, at M1 there was a higher frequency of caregivers with right answers in the IG than in the CG (IG =7.5 ± 1 versus CG =6.0 ± 2; P = .000). Those differences occurred in domain (e) nasal clearance techniques, revealing a higher percentage of caregivers who used correctly nasal irrigation (P = .000), nasal aspirators (0.000 ≤P ≤ .001) and nebulization (P = .000) in IG.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The HES met the caregivers' needs regarding ARI and increased their knowledge and attitudes towards ARI, especially regarding nasal clearance techniques.
authors.affiliation: a Department of Physiotherapy , School of Allied Health Technologies, Polytechnic Institute of Porto , Portugal.|b Department of Health Sciences , University of Aveiro , Portugal.
authors.forename: Ana Manuela Ferreira da Silva
authors.initials: AM
authors.lastname: Alexandrino
authors.affiliation: a Department of Physiotherapy , School of Allied Health Technologies, Polytechnic Institute of Porto , Portugal.|c Faculty of Sports , University of Porto , Portugal.
authors.forename: Rita Isabel Garrido Vieira Dos
authors.initials: RI
authors.lastname: Santos
authors.affiliation: a Department of Physiotherapy , School of Allied Health Technologies, Polytechnic Institute of Porto , Portugal.
authors.forename: Maria Cristina Damas Argel de
authors.initials: MC
authors.lastname: Melo
authors.affiliation: b Department of Health Sciences , University of Aveiro , Portugal.|d Baixo Vouga Hospital Centre , Aveiro , Portugal.
authors.forename: José Adelino Mesquita
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Bastos
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D000328:Adult; D017028:Caregivers / Q000193:education*; D002656:Child Day Care Centers; D002675:Child, Preschool; D005260:Female; D006266:Health Education / Q000379:methods*; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008962:Models, Theoretical; D010865:Pilot Projects; D011174:Portugal; D012141:Respiratory Tract Infections / Q000628:therapy*
keywords: Health education; infectious diseases; paediatrics; patient involvement empowerment; prevention; public health and community medicine; self-management