INTRODUCTION:

Latchkey is a term defining children who are left to care for themselves after school.1It is descriptive because these children frequently wear the keys to their houses around their necks. The estimates are that two to five million children between the ages of six and 13 can be regarded as latchkey children (Fosarelli, 1984; Long and Long, 1983). McMurray and Kaanjian (1982) reported form their New York City survey that 19% of working women left their children alone at least occasionally. These children were initially left home alone at a mean age of 9.8 years, and 20% were alone for more than four hours.2 According to census data in 2011, over 4 million children were left without supervision for more than 6 hours a very weak on average. Because of government and grand funded after school programs, these number have dropped dramatically. In 1995, it was estimated that 18% of elementary aged children went home to empty houses. Since after school programme legislation passed in 1998. That number has dropped in all categories, the percentage of children from single parent over 20% to about 15%, however, in 2009 budget challenges cut funding for many after school programs putting more children at risk of becoming latchkey kids.3

OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY:

 To assess pre and post-test level of knowledge regarding latchkey children among working mothers at selected colleges, Bangalore.

 To evaluate effectiveness of self instructional module regarding latchkey children among working mother at selected colleges, Bangalore.

 To find an association between the pre-test level of knowledge scores with their selected demographic variables.

ASSUMPTIONS:

 Working mothers have a lack of knowledge on a latchkey children.

 Working mother knowledge will be improved by self-instructional module on latchkey children.

RESEARCH HYPOTHESIS:

H1- There will be a significant difference between mean pretest and post test knowledge score among working mothers regarding latchkey children.

H2-There will be a significant association between knowledge scores of working mothers with their selected demographic variables.

SAMPLING CRITERIA:

Inclusion criteria

 Mother who are working in selected colleges.

 Mother who are present at the time of data collection.

 Mother who are willing to participate in the study.

Exclusion criteria

 Who are not willing to participate in the study.

 Those who have exposed previous study about latchkey children.

 Working mothers who are keeping care taker in their house.

RESEARCH METHODOLOGY:

One group pretest- posttest experimental design was adopted for this study to find out the effectiveness of Self instructional module. In this research study sample were given Self instructional module after pretest. Five days after the Self instructional module post test was done to assess the knowledge on Latchkey children. In this study a comparison between the pretest and posttest score was done to find out the effectiveness of Self instructional module. Non probability convenient sampling technique was used to select the sample of working mothers.

RESULTS:

Table–1.1 : Classification of study participants by socio- demographic variables. N=60

S. no	Demographic variables	Frequency	Percentage
1.	Age in years
	a) 25-30 years	10	16.6
	b) 31-35 years	20	33.3
	c) 36 -40 years	20	33.3
	d) above 40 years	10	16.6
2.	Religion
	a) Hindu	53	88.3
	b) Muslim	5	8.3
	c) Christian	2	3.3
	d) Others	0	0
3.	Educational status
	a) Graduate	5	8.3
	b) Post graduate	45	75
	c) PhD	10	16.6
4.	Monthly income
	a) Below Rs-15000	9	15
	b) 15001-30000	43	71.6
	c) Above 30000	8	13.3
5.	Type of family
	a) Nuclear family	25	41.6
	b) Joint family	26	43.3
	c) Extended family	9	15
6.	Number of children’s in the family
	a) One	25	41.6
	b) Two	26	43.3
	c) More than Three	9	15
7.	Source of Information about visual impairment
	a) No informant	45	75
	b) Mass media	4	6.6
	c) Friends and family	10	16.6
	d) Health care professionals	0	0

The table shows that 20 (33.3%) belongs to age group of 31–35yeras, 20(33.3%) belongs to age group of 36 - 40 years, 10 (16.6%) belongs to age group of 25 –30 years and 10 (16.6%) belongs to age group of above 40 years. 53 (88.3%) subjects were Hindu, 05 (8.3%) were Muslims, 02 (3.3%) were Christian. 45 (75%) belongs to postgraduates, 10(16.6%) belongs to PhD and 05 (8.3%) belongs to graduates. 43 (71.6%) has income of 150001 – 30000rs, 09 (15%) has income less than 15000rs and 08 (13.33%) has income of above 30000rs. 26 (43.3%) of subjects are belong to joint family, 25 (41.6%) of subjects are belong to nuclear family and 09 (15%) of subjects are belong to extended family. 26 (43.3%) of subjects have two children's, 25 (41.6%) of subjects have one child and 09 (15%) of subjects have more than three children's. 45 (75%) has no information, 10 (16.6%) has information from friends and family, 4 (6.6%) has information from mass media. And 00 (0%) has information from health professional

Table-2: Frequency and percentage distribution of working mothers according to the pretest level of knowledge on latchkey children.

Level of knowledge	Percentage of knowledge scores	No. of study participants.	Percentage of frequency
Inadequate	≤50%	45	75
Moderate	50-75%	10	16.6
Adequate	>75%	5	8.3
Total		60	100

The above table shows the distribution of level of knowledge regarding latchkey children among working mothers before the self instructional module.It revealed that in pre test, majority of the respondents, 45 (75%) had inadequate knowledge, 10 (16.6%) subjects had moderate knowledge and 5 (8.3%) had adequate knowledge regarding latchkey children among working mother.

Table-3: Aspect wise and overall Mean, Mean %, SD of pre-test knowledge scores regarding latchkey children among working mothers.

Aspects of knowledge	Max. score	Range	Mean	SD	Mean%
General information	5	1-4	2.26	0.86	45.2
Causes and risk factors	4	1-3	3	0.83	75
Characteristics and consequences	8	1-8	4	1.75	50
Safety, program and prevention	13	5-11	6.18	2.25	47.53
Overall	30	9-25	13.7	4.17	45.66

Table 4: Frequency and percentage distribution of working mothers according to the post-test level of knowledge regarding Latchkey children.

Sl. no	Post-test level of knowledge	Frequency	Percentage
1	Inadequate knowledge (<50%)	0	0
2	Moderately adequate (50-75%)	10	16.6
3	Adequate knowledge (>75%)	50	83.3

The above table represents distribution of level of knowledge regarding Latchkey children among working mothers after the Self Instructional Module.It revealed that in post test, majority of the respondents 50 (83.3%) had adequate level of knowledge and 10 (16.6%) had moderate level of knowledge and 0 (0%) had inadequate level of knowledge regarding Latchkey children among working mothers

Table 5. Frequency and percentage distribution of working mothers according to pre and post- level knowledge regarding Latchkey children.

S. No	Level of knowledge	Pre-test		Post-test
S. No	Level of knowledge	Freq.	%	Freq.	%
1	Inadequate knowledge (<50%)	45	75	0	0
2	Moderately adequate (50-75%)	10	16.66	10	16.66
3	Adequate knowledge (>75%)	5	8.33	50	83.33
	Overall	60	100	60	100

Table 6 : Paired t-test analysis for the significance difference between pretest and post-test knowledge regarding Latchkey children among working mothers.

Aspects of knowledge	Enhancement
Aspects of knowledge	Max. score	Mean difference	SD of difference	% of Mean difference	Paired t-value	p-value
General information	5	1.4	1.19	28	9.10	p<0.001
Causes and risk factors	4	1.43	1.22	35	8.88	p<0.001
Characteristics and consequences	8	2.68	1.59	33.5	13.82	p<0.001
Safety, program and prevention	13	5.06	2.0	38.92	19.58	p<0.001
Overall	30	10.5	3.87	35	21.16 ⃰	p<0.001

Table 7: Association between mean difference of knowledge and selected demographic variables of the working mothers.

S.no	Demographic variables	Sample (n=60)		Knowledge				Chi- square value	p-value
		Sample (n=60)		≤Median		>Median
		F	%	F	%	F	%
1.	Age in years							0.8964 NS	p>0.05
	25-30 years	10	16.6	7	17.5	3	15
	31-35 years	20	33.3	12	30	8	40
	36 -40 years	20	33.3	14	35	6	30
	above 40 years	10	16.6	7	17.5	3	15
2.	Religion							2.0854 NS	p>0.05
	Hindu	53	88.3	37	92.5	16	80
	Muslim	5	8.3	2	5	3	15
	Christen	2	3.3	1	2.5	1	5
	Others	0	0	0		0	0
3.	Educational status							4.254 NS	p>0.05
	Graduate	5	8.33	3	7.5	2	10
	Post graduate	45	75	33	82.5	12	60
	PhD	10	16.66	4	10	6	30
4.	Monthly income							4.9584 NS	p>0.05
	Below Rs-15000	9	15	6	15	3	15
	15001-30000	43	71.66	31	77.5	12	60
	Above 30000	8	13.33	3	7.5	5	25
5.	Types of family							0.6277 NS	p>0.05
	Nuclear family	25	41.6	18	45	7	35
	Joint family	26	43.33	16	40	10	50
	Extended family	9	15	6	15	3	15
6.	Number of children’s in the family							0.5992 NS	p>0.05
	One	25	41.6	16	40	9	45
	Two	26	43.33	17	42.5	9	45
	More than two	9	15	7	17.5	2	10
7.	Source of Information							1.3056 NS	p>0.05
	No informant	45	75	28	70	17	85
	Mass media	4	6.66	3	7.5	1	5
	Friends and family	10	16.66	8	20	2	10
	Health care professionals	0	0	0	0	0	0