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23. Analysis of Knowledge and Practices of Mothers Regarding Neonatal Care in District Gujrat

Akmal Khurshid Bhatti1, Nasreen Hamid2, Tahir Mahmood Butt1, Zara Tahir1, Aimen Tahir3 and Saad Akmal Bhatti1

ABSTRACT

Objective: The objective of this study was to determine the knowledge of mothers on essential newborn care at home and to assess the practices of mothers on essential newborn care at home.

Study Design: Cross- sectional Study

Place and Duration of Study: This study was conducted at the Rural Gujrat from August 2017 to
January 2018

Materials and Methods: A total of 202 mothers participated in the study.  The study participants were mothers of infants aged 3 months or less.  The data was collected on standard newborn care knowledge scale based on 31 items and a 15 itemed newborn care practice scale.

Results: More than half (61.4%) mothers had four or more antenatal care visit. The mean knowledge score was 14.3 (SD=3.9) ranging from 3 to 27 on a scale of 0-31. When converted to a binary variable at the cut-off value of 60%, it was found that only 20 mothers had good knowledge (10.6%) while 168 (89.4%) had poor knowledge. Similar trend was observed for newborn care practices, only 10.1% mothers had good practices while 170 (89.9%) had poor practices for newborn care. The only significant predictor of better knowledge was counselling by health care providers (OR=1.78, 95% CI=1.17, 2.71).

Conclusion: Knowledge and practices of mothers regarding newborn care were very poor in rural areas of Gujrat. This highlights the need of appropriate counselling of mothers (by trained health providers) regarding newborn care.

Key Words: Knowledge, Neonatal, Mother, Newborn

Citation of articles: Bhatti AK, Hamid N, Butt TM, Tahir Z, Tahir A, Bhatti SA. Analysis of Knowledge and Practices of Mothers Regarding Neonatal Care in District Gujrat. Med Forum 2019;30(12):92-97.