The Effectiveness Of Raising Hong Kong Parents’ Awareness Of Antimicrobial Resistance Through An Educational Program With Peer Support On Social Media: A Pilot Study
Abstract Objective: To test whether parents’ self-efficacy for appropriate antibiotic use could be improved through the education program with peer support on social media.Methods: A cluster randomized controlled trial with two-arms were implemented. The intervention program consisted of two weekly sessions and each session lasted for 90 minutes. A total of 48 parents had participated in the program. Parental knowledge, attitude, and their social network were measured before and after the program using the Parental Perception on Antibiotics (PAPA) scale and the GSE scale to assess differences between and within the intervention and control groups.Findings: All parents in the intervention group disagreed that antibiotics are effective against infections (virus, bacteria and fungi), as compared to a mere 40% in the control group. All parents in the intervention group and 85% of the control group disagreed that they should reduce the dose of antibiotics when their children were recovering. The test was statistically significant (p=0.039). There was a significant difference and a strong negative correlation between social media and the parents’ belief that antibiotics could be stopped when their children felt better, with Pearson coefficient of -0.78 and p=0.001. On the whole, there was no significant difference between the two groups with respect to the GSE scale Conclusion: Based on the findings in this pilot study, a further study based on the education program with enhancement and peer support can be implemented in a large scale with a positive expectation of reducing antimicrobial resistance.