Objective:

to analyse our experience in the implementation of a health education programme in the primary care paediatrics setting.

Materials and methods:

observational and retrospective study. Setting: five primary care centres in urban and semi-urban areas. Participants: pregnant women in the third trimester of gestation and their partners. We held six 90-minute workshops: one on the appropriate use of paediatric emergency services and another five on the management of the most common health problems in children: fever, acute respiratory tract infections (ARTIs), acute gastroenteritis (AGE), skin lesions and traumatic injuries, burns and sprains. We analysed epidemiological data, the baseline level of knowledge, attendance and degree of satisfaction with the intervention.

Results:

of the total universe of pregnant women, 44.21% attended the workshops. Women attended more frequently than their male partners. Most women were primiparous, had attended university, were currently employed and of Spanish nationality. Their mean age was 34.53 years. We found greater gaps in knowledge in attendees that were going to be parents for the first time, aged less than 30 years, without a college education and receiving care in specific primary care centres. The workshops with the highest attendance were those on fever and respiratory tract infections. The workshops were designed to be entertaining and interactive. Participants reported a high level of satisfaction and gave positive feedback.

Conclusions:

we propose the use of this type of programmes to better prepare parents-to-be to manage potential health problems in their children and make appropriate use of health care services.

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