The effect of education on the prevention of children's poisoning with methadone on the awareness of mothers treated with methadone

Background: Childhood poisoning is a global problem and one of the causes of child mortality. Among the causes of poisoning in children and adults in Iran, opioids are one of the most important factors and among them, methadone is the most common. The aim of this study was to compare the education of prevention of children's poisoning with methadone using two methods of lectures and group discussion on the awareness of mothers treated with methadone who referred to addiction treatment centers in Birjand City in 2020. Materials and methods: The present study was an interventional study with and before and after design performed on 90 mothers treated with methadone. Sampling was done by cluster random sampling in three groups of lecture, group discussion and control. Data were collected using demographic questionnaire and mothers' knowledge questionnaire and analyzed by SPSS software version 21. Results: In the lecture group education, the mean knowledge of mothers before education was 5.97 and after education was 10.57. Also, the mean knowledge of mothers in group discussion before and after education was 6.30 and 13.47, respectively. Conclusion: Group discussion training improved the awareness of methadone-treated mothers more than lecturing.