Study design
The present quasi-experimental interventional study was performed at Mashhad, Iran. The researcher referred to all of the nursing homes in the city based on the list provided by the Welfare Organization of Mashhad. There were a total of 20 nursing homes in this city, six were inactive, and two rejected to collaborate in this study. Thus, a total of 12 nursing homes were included in the study. The researcher gave an explanation to all caretakers about the research objectives and selected those who could read and write, did not have cognitive and learning problems, and were not participating in another research during this period. The researcher asked the eligible caretakers to read and sign the informed consent if they were willing to participate in the study. A total of 54 caretakers participated. The researcher gave a questionnaire to the caretakers after providing explanation about how to complete the questionnaire. The researcher remained beside the caretakers so that they could ask any questions they had while completing the questionnaire.
The questionnaire was designed by the research team and confirmed by the experts in this field. The first part of the questionnaire included demographic characteristics, such as sex, age, marital status, educational level, the field of study, the name of the nursing home they were working at, and the experience of living with an elderly. All caretakers with any educational level in any field were included in the study.
The questionnaire used for assessing the caretakers’ knowledge and attitude was that designed by Askaryzadeh M. and colleagues [19], which evaluates the knowledge of taking care of the elderly in 61 questions by true or false answers, scored by 1 or 0. A score <12 was considered as unacceptable, 12-13.99 as poor, 14-16.99 as moderate, and 17-20 as good knowledge. The content validity of the questionnaire was confirmed in this study and the calculated Cronbach’s alpha coefficient=0.77 confirmed its reliability.
The performance of the caretakers was evaluated by a researcher–designed questionnaire, which evaluated 21 skills; each question was answered by three options: can do (scored as 2), can do with help (scored as 1), and cannot do (scored as 0), resulting in a minimum score of 0 and maximum of 42. A score <12 was considered as unacceptable, 12-13.99 as poor, 14-16.99 as moderate, and 17-20 as good performance. The content validity of the questionnaire was confirmed in this study and the calculated Cronbach’s alpha coefficient=0.77 confirmed its reliability.
The educational sessions were held at the working place of the caretakers by an expert nurse; four 90-minute sessions were held twice a week, at 10-11:30 a.m. Before initiation of the educational session, the caretakers completed the questionnaires, and their skills were recorded using the observational method (observation by the researcher). The educational content included definition of the elderly, taking care of the elderly in cognitive areas, being aware of keeping the health of the elderly, food requirements, sleep and rest, how to give the medications to the elderly, prevention of falling, bedsore, urinary infection, how to interact with the elderly, knowing the common medical/physical problems of the elderly, observation of safety instructions, and environmental stimuli.
The questionnaires were completed by the participants at three intervals: before education (T1), after the end of the last session of the education (T2), and 1 month after the education (T3). Any participant who missed one session, did not refer for follow-up or refused to continue the study was excluded from the study.
Statistical analysis
Descriptive results were presented by mean±standard deviation (SD) for quantitative variables and by frequency (percentage) for categorical variables. Kolmogorov–Smirnov test was used to assess the normal distribution of the data, and as the results confirmed the normal distribution of the data, comparison of continuous variables was performed using independent sample t test between two groups and using one way ANOVA among three intervals. Comparison of the change in the scores of the questionnaire at three time points was performed using repeated-measures ANOVA. Bonferroni post hoc test was used for pairwise comparison of the groups when the results of ANOVA were significant. For evaluating the association of variables, Pearson’s correlation coefficient was reported. For the statistical analysis, the statistical software IBM SPSS Statistics for Windows version 21.0 (IBM Corp. 2012. Armonk, NY: IBM Corp.) was used. P values of <0.05 were considered as statistically significant.