Razi Journal of Medical Sciences

Background: Incorrect belief of mothers in regard to taking for care of their premature neonates could lead to poor care performance.The purpose of this study was to evaluate the effect of education based on the theory of planned behavior of structures on the performance of the mothers, in the care of premature infants in 2013.

Methods: This survey was a quasi-experimental study. Two hospitals affiliated to Tehran University of Medical Sciences were randomly selected and divided into control and test groups. Then, 45 mothers were selected by simple sampling method from each hospital. Instruments for gathering data were designed based on theory of planned behavioral constructs and observational checklist for assessing function of mother for care of premature infants. Educational program was designed according of pre-test results and performed in the experimental group. Two groups were followed-up to the discharge of the neonates. Data was analyzed by SPSS statistical software (version 16) and independent sample t-tests and student’s t test for paired sample.

Results: Significant improvements were observed in the mean score of attitude (p<0.0001), subjective norms (p=0.002), perceived behavioral control (p<0.0001), intention (p=0.02) and overall performance of mothers to take care of premature infant (p=0.001) in the experimental group as compared to the control group.

Conclusions: Implementing educational intervention based on theory of planned behavior constructs may be an effective strategy for improving the performance of mothers to care of premature neonate.