The Effect of Safe Sleep and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome Training on the Knowledge of Mothers

Objective: This study was conducted to examine the effect of safe sleep and Sudden Infant Death Syndrome (SIDS) training on the knowledge of mothers.Materials and Methods: This study was a quasi-experimental research with a one-group pretest-posttest design. The study was conducted with 207 mothers who brought their 0-1 month-old babies for routine health checking to the neonatal outpatient clinic between August 2018 and February 2019. Of 207 mothers who received the training,141 mothers completed the study. The pretest was administered to the mothers before the training. The researcher provided training on the topic by using a PowerPoint presentation and a training video. The posttest was administered to the mothers after the training. One month after the training, follow-up tests were administered to the mothers who received training and attended their outpatient clinic appointment.Results: It was found that before the training, the mothers (51.2%) put their babies on their side-sleep position, 67.1% put them to sleep on soft bedding, and 57.5% used pillows for them. The mean pretest score of the mothers was 5.65 +/- 1.85, mean immediate posttest score was 9.89 +/- 0.33, and mean follow-up score one-month after the training was 8.95 +/- 1.07. A statistically significant difference was found among the mothers' mean pretest score, immediate posttest scorescore, and follow-up score one-month after the training (p<0.05).Conclusion: In the study, it was found that mothers engaged in risky behaviors and made their babies to sleep in an unsafe sleep environment. It was found that the majority of the mothers put their babies to sleep in the side position and used soft bedding, and pillows. The study concluded that the training given to the mothers on SIDS and safe sleep was effective.