Investigating the effect of using the IDEAL discharge program on the quality of life of traumatized children and adolescents

Aims: Children and adolescents are more exposed to trauma due to their physiological conditions and growth process. After the discharge, the complications caused by trauma affect the quality of life of children and adolescents or their families. Perhaps the application of the discharge care plan will help in preventing these complications. Therefore, the present study was conducted with the aim of determining the effect of using the ideal discharge program on the quality of life of children and adolescents with trauma.  Materials and Methods: In this quasi-experimental study, 150 trauma children and adolescents aged 8 to 16 years admitted to the trauma department of Golestan Hospital, affiliated to Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran, participated in 2023. The participants were selected by available sampling method and divided into two groups of 75 people (intervention and control) by simple random assignment method. For patients in the intervention group, training on the IDEAL discharge model was implemented, and patients in the control group received routine training. Varni et al.'s children's quality of life questionnaire, version 4, was used to collect data. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 25 through independent t test, paired t test and chi-score. Findings: The results showed that the average age and other demographic characteristics of the patients did not have a statistically significant difference between the intervention and control groups. After the intervention, the average quality of life score of the intervention group showed a statistically significant improvement compared to the control group (P<0.01). Within group comparison of the mean quality of life score before and after the intervention in each of the intervention and control groups showed a statistically significant difference (P<0.01). Conclusions: By using the IDEAL discharge program in traumatized children and adolescents, their quality of life scores improved. Therefore, this program can be used as a suitable and low-cost method to improve the quality of life of children and adolescents.