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Subject Area

Ophthalmology

Article Type

Original Study

Abstract

Objective To assess knowledge of mothers regarding vitamin D before and after application of an educational program and assess factors associated with their knowledge regarding it. Background Mothers are the key person for nutrition of their children. Mothers' knowledge about proper nutritional behaviors has a direct effect on the nutritional quality of their children. Many mothers still do not get enough information about importance of vitamin D for their children health, so evaluation of maternal knowledge regarding vitamin D and identification of gaps in their knowledge is an important tool to design and implement an educational program to fill these gaps and improve their level of awareness regarding health importance of vitamin D. Patients and methods This prospective study was conducted on a sample of 294 mothers of preschool children. The mothers were selected randomly from two health care facilities, which were also randomly selected from Birket El Sabee district, and the sample was proportionally allocated according to total number of mothers' attendance rate in each health care facility. A predesigned questionnaire was used to assess mother's knowledge regarding vitamin D. An educational program was applied, and knowledge was reassessed with the same questionnaire after the program. Results The mean ± SD of mothers' knowledge about vitamin D was significantly increased after application of educational program from 14.7 ± 4.9 to 50.6 ± 1.8 (P < 0.001). Age and socioeconomic status showed a weak positive correlation with knowledge score (P = 0.009 and 0.002, respectively), whereas educational level showed a moderate positive correlation (P < 0.001), and all three correlations were statistically significant. Conclusion Knowledge of mothers regarding vitamin D significantly improved after application of the educational program, and maternal knowledge regarding vitamin D was significantly affected by their age, educational level, and socioeconomic status.

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