The Effect of Education Based on Theory of Planned Behavior in Mothers About Behavior Prevention from Development Retardation in Children Aged One Year in Qom

Background and Objectives: Developmental and behavioral disorders are among common problems in pediatric medicine. Early diagnosis of these disorders is important so there can be intervention and treatment. The aim of this study is to evaluate the impact of education based on the theory of planned behavior on promoting preventive behaviors of child’s development disorder on mothers in Qom in 2018. Methods: In this study which was conducted as a quasi-experimental intervention in 2018, a sample of 106 mothers with children aged one year  were randomly assigned to two groups of control and test in 2018. The data collecting tool was the questionnaires based on theory of planned behavior that was completed twice: before and 1 month after the education. Educational intervention was performed in 4 sessions for the test group. Finally, the data were collected and analyzed using paired t–test, independent t-test, and Chi square in the context of the SPSS 22.  Results: Before the intervention, the two groups had no significant difference in terms of demographic variables and mean scores of different structures of theory of planned behavior. However, after the intervention, there were significant differences between test and control group in terms of mean score and standard deviation, the educational effect,  knowledge score (2/85±2/37), attitude (7/13±3/28), subjective norm (6/64±3/66), perceived behavioral control (11/05±4/33), behavioral intention (9/8±3/92), and behavior (16/94±8/10) (P<0.001). Conclusion: The findings of this study showed the effect and efficiency of the theory of planned behavior on promoting preventive behaviors of child’s development disorder in mothers.