Abstract
Background and purpose: Efforts to increase the knowledge of stroke risk factors and warning signs for youth are expected to reduce the time from stroke onset to hospital and to be effective in stroke prevention. Although there were a few studies about stroke enlightenments for younger individuals, the effective means of stroke enlightenments for elementary school children have not been clarified. The aim of this study is to evaluate the effectiveness of stroke lesson which we developed for elementary school children using a comic book and animated cartoon. Methods: We developed a comic book and a 10-minutes animated cartoon introducing stroke risk factors, stroke sign and symptoms, and encouraging immediate calling for emergent medical service (EMS) on identification of stroke signs and symptoms. Using these materials, a 30-minutes lesson was performed by the school teacher for school children. Questionnaires on stroke knowledge (including a total of 7 correct items for risk factors and 6 for stroke signs and symptoms), consisted of multiple-choice and closed type questions, were filled out by school children before, immediately after, and 3 months after the lesson. The score was calculated as total numbers of correct answers in assessing stroke knowledge. Results: A total of 219 school children (10 or 11 years old) in 2 public elementary schools were received the stroke lesson. The knowledge about stroke risk factors at the point of immediately after the lesson increased significantly compared with that of before the lesson (mean ± standard deviation, 4.75±1.40 vs. 4.25±1.51, p<0.001), and it preserved at the points of 3 months after the lesson (4.55±1.55). Correct answers for stroke symptoms immediately after the lesson also improved significantly compared with that before the lesson (3.48±1.00 vs. 2.96±1.21, p<0.001), and it conserved at 3 months after the lesson (3.35±1.06). The proportion of calling EMS on identifying stroke signs and symptoms immediately after the lesson were significantly higher than that before the lesson (97% vs. 91%, p=0.007). Conclusion: Stroke lesson by a school teacher using a comic book and animated cartoon which we developed was effective on the stroke enlightenments for elementary school children.
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