Comparison of the Effect of two Methods of Training Group and Educational Booklet on the Knowledge, Attitude and Self-Efficacy of Mothers About the Sexual Health of Intellectually Disabled Adolescent Girls: A Field Trial

Background And Objective: The sexual problems of intellectually disabled adolescents are rooted in the unawareness and inability of adolescents to understand issues related to sexuality, unawareness and disability of parents, teachers, and religious- cultural beliefs of the community. Since parents play an important role in shaping the attitude of their intellectually disabled adolescents toward puberty and sexuality, this study aimed to compare the effect of two methods of training group and educational booklet on the knowledge, attitude and self-efficacy of mothers about the sexual health of intellectually disabled adolescent girls.Materials and Methods: In this field trial, 81 mothers of intellectually disabled adolescent girls were divided into three groups of group training, training through booklet and control that received no intervention, and its impacts on mother s knowledge, attitude and self-efficacy about taking care of sexual health of girls were determined. The researcher-made questionnaires bout the assessment of knowledge, attitude and a self-efficacy standard questionnaire was completed before intervention and 1 months after the intervention by mothers. Data were analyzed with descriptive-analytic statistical methods.Results: The mean score of mothers knowledge and self-efficacy one month after the intervention in training group was higher than educational booklet group and control group (p <0.001) and the mean score of mothers knowledge and self-efficacy in educational booklet group was higher than control group (p = 0.005, p = 0.02). Also, one month after the intervention, the mean score of mothers attitude in the training group was higher than the control group and education booklet group (p <0.001), but There was no significant difference between the mean score of mothers attitude in the two groups of control group and education booklet group (p> 0.05).Conclusion: Implementation of group-based educational intervention in comparison with educational booklet method was associated with a greater increase in knowledge, attitude and self-efficacy of mothers about the sexual health of intellectually disabled adolescent girls. Therefore, considering the effective role of the educator in group education, providing an opportunity for questions and answers on sexual health and its impact on better awareness and learning, eliminating mothers mistaken beliefs about sexual health and also encouraging mothers of intellectually disabled adolescent girls and emphasizing on their individual abilities in taking care of their daughter s sexual health to enhance their self-efficacy, group education is suggested as a suitable way to educate parents of intellectually disabled adolescent girls.

کلیدواژه ها:

Education ، Knowledge ، Attitude ، Self-efficacy ، Sexual Health ، intellectually disability