Storytelling, a new approach in empowering mothers in the prevention of childhood accidents

Background and Aim: Children due to specific physiological and behavioral characteristics, more than others are at risk of accidents and need care by an adult; therefore, the present study aims to investigate the effect of education in two methods, storytelling and self-learning have been done on the ability of mothers to prevent children's accidents. Materials and Methods: The present research is a randomized field trial study which was performed on 60 mothers with children aged 1 to 59 months. The research tool is a researcher-made questionnaire whose validity and reliability have been proven. Meetings for training the principles of preventing the common accidents in the province in two "storytelling" and "self-learning" methods were held in 24 training sessions. data analysis was performed by Chi-square, Fisher test, independent t-test, Bonferroni post hoc and repeated ANOVA tests at α = 0.05 Results: Both training methods significantly enhanced the empowerment score of the mothers compared to before (P<0.001). Comparing two methods, although there was no significant difference in the mean of power score changes before and the immediately after the intervention, but the average of changes in the score three months later showed a significant difference before and immediately after that and storytelling could have a more effective effect on improving the ability of mothers three months after intervention (P = 0.02) and immediately thereafter (P = 0.04). Conclusion: Education in both ways can lead to mothers' ability; however, due to reduced ability score after three months in the self-learning group, storytelling is more effective in mothers.