Is computer assisted teaching effective on improving knowledge of preconception care? A hospital based study

Abstract

Introduction: Preconception care is any intervention provided to women and couples of childbearing age to improve health outcomes of women, newborns and children. Computer Assisted Teaching has been used for more than five decades for educational purposes. This study was done to assess the effectiveness of computer assisted teaching to improve knowledge of preconception care among married women in selected hospital at Bangalore.

Methods: An evaluative approach with pre-experimental, one group pretest posttest design was selected and a judgmental sampling technique was used to select the samples for preconception care for married women in Seventh Day Adventist Multi Specialty Hospital, Bangalore. Pretest was done using structured knowledge questionnaire on knowledge of preconception care. After the pretest, computer assisted teaching was administered, and on the 8th day post test was conducted using the same questionnaire. The duration of study was one month.

Results: The study revealed that, among 40 married women, during pretest, majority ie. 70% (28) were having inadequate knowledge and 27.5% (11) were having moderately adequate knowledge regarding preconception care. After administering computer assisted teaching on knowledge of preconception care, the post test result showed that majority of 97.5% (39) women gained adequate level of knowledge and no one had inadequate knowledge.

Conclusion: The study concluded that there was overall 96.21% mean percentage knowledge regarding preconception care after administration of computer assisted teaching. This indicates that, computer assisted teaching is an effective teaching strategy in the education system, because this technique make study more interesting and easy to comprehend.