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Abstract

Introduction: Congenital cytomegalovirus (cCMV) is the most common infectious condition present at birth and the leading non-genetic cause of sensorineural hearing loss in children. Despite CMV being common and preventable, knowledge of CMV remains low among individuals in the United States (Doutre et al., 2016). Sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) is also common among infants in the United States, but unlike cCMV, several studies have researched which educational methods have been most effective for improving parents’ knowledge of safe sleep practices. The purpose of this study was to investigate whether educational methods shown to be most effective for improving parents’ knowledge of SIDS could also be used to improve parents’ knowledge of cCMV.

Methods: Forty-five participants completed an online study consisting of a pre-education survey on cCMV, written and verbal education on cCMV, and a post-education survey. Methods were based off a SIDS education study conducted by Dufer et al. (2017).

Results: Results of this study revealed that the provision of verbal and written education resulted in a significant increase in South Dakota parents’ knowledge of cCMV (p<0.05).

Conclusion: Educational methods used to improve parents’ knowledge of SIDS can also be used to improve South Dakota parents’ knowledge of cCMV.

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