Effectiveness of structured health education program on knowledge and attitude regarding consanguinity leading to congenital heart defects in children, among students of selected College of Delhi

Congenital heart defects (CHD) are the most common type of birth defect. Many studies reported that the prevalence of CHD is high all over the world, which may have significant impacts on individuals, families, health-care systems, and societies. There is a number of risk factors that can lead to congenital heart defects and consanguinity is one of the leading causes. Consanguinity is still prevalent in many communities because of its social and economic reasons. Studies had shown that people have insufficient knowledge about effects of consanguinity on health and it is an important health issue worldwide, therefore, providing the adolescent with structured health education will be beneficial for the society as a whole.

To assess the effectiveness of structured health education program on knowledge and attitude regarding consanguinity leading to congenital heart defects in children among students (18-25 years) of selected College of Delhi.

This was a pre-experimental study conducted on 168 students between the age group 18-25 years from selected College of Delhi. Baseline knowledge and attitude of students regarding consanguinity leading to congenital heart defects were assessed using self- administered questionnaire, followed by a 30 min structured health education program and then after 15 days the same questionnaire was administered to them for post-test data collection. Data were analyzed using STATA version 12.1 using descriptive and inferential statistics.

The result showed that majority of the students (56.5%) were male with a mean age of 19.15±1.19. In the pre-test, 54.7% had poor knowledge about consanguinity leading to CHD and only 2.3% had good knowledge. In post-test 61.3% had good knowledge and only 0.5% had poor knowledge. Most of the students had a favorable attitude in both pre-test and post-test. The mean knowledge score was significantly increased in post-test (13.64±1.78) as compared to pre-test (8.88±2.58). Likewise, the mean attitude score was also significantly improved from pre-test (17.44±3.64) to post-test (23.42±3.28).

Study concluded that students had insufficient knowledge about this important issue so there is a need to increase their knowledge and awareness about consanguinity and its ill effects on health. The structured teaching program was found to be effective in improving the knowledge and attitude of college students regarding consanguinity leading to congenital heart defects in children.