Multimedia education programme for patients with a stoma: effectiveness evaluation

Aim. This paper is a report of an evaluation of the effectiveness of a multimedia education program in relation to stoma knowledge, self-care attitudes and behaviour with patients with a stoma in the postoperative period. Background. Multimedia education programmes not only give patients with useful information in the absence of health professionals, but can also augment information given in traditional clinical practice. However, the literature on the effectiveness of different approaches to stoma education is limited. Method. A randomized experimental study design was used. Participants were recruited from a surgical unit in a large hospital in Taiwan. A total of 102 patients with a stoma were randomly assigned to either the multimedia education programme (n = 46) or a conventional stoma education programme (n = 56) with a follow-up of 1 week. Outcome variables measured were levels of self-care knowledge, attitudes towards self-care and self-care behaviour. Findings. Patients who received the multimedia education programme improved their overall self-care knowledge, attitudes and behaviour statistically significantly when compared with those who received the conventional stoma education programme. Conclusion. Although further, longer-term follow-up will be useful, this study demonstrates that multimedia packages can enhance patient involvement in their stoma care and can augment stoma education - particularly in resource challenged healthcare environments.