NUJHS Vol. 4, No.

2, June 2014, ISSN 2249-7110

Nitte University Journal of Health Science

Short Communication

KNOWLEDGE AND PRACTICES OF POSTNATAL MOTHERS

ON NEWBORN CARE IN TERTIARY CARE HOSPITAL OF
UDUPI DISTRICT
Castalino F.1, Nayak B.S.2 & D'Souza A.3
1
Staff Nurse, Kasturba Hospital, 2Professor & HOD, 3Assistant Professor (Sr. Scale) Department of Child Health Nursing,
Manipal College of Nursing Manipal, Manipal University, Manipal - 576 104, Karnataka, India
Correspondence
Fabina Castalino
Staff nurse, NICU, Kasturba Hospital, Manipal - 576 104, Karnataka, India
E-mail : fabrocas@gmail.com
Abstract :
A descriptive correlational survey to assess knowledge and practice of postnatal mothers on newborn care was carried out among 30
mothers using valid, reliable, structured knowledge and practice questionnaire. The collected data was analyzed using SPSS version 16.
The findings of the study showed that most of the sample 24(80%) were in the age group 21-30 years, most of them 16(53.3%) were
primipara, 15(50%) had normal vaginal delivery and 15 (50%) had LSCS. Majority of the sample 25 (83.3%) belonged to Hindu religion,
most of them 19 (63.3%) belonged to joint family, most the samples 17 (56.7%) lived in a rural area, majority of the mothers 17 (56.7%)
were housewives. Majority of the new- borns, 24 (80%) were above 37 weeks of gestation, most of the new born 21(70%) were below 6
days of age, majority of the new born 19(63.3%) were male, majority of newborn 16(53.3%) were above 3000 grams of birth weight.
Majority 23 (76.7%) of mothers had good knowledge on new-born care. Most of 16 (53.33%) of mothers had excellent practice on new-
born care. Relationship between knowledge and practice score of the mother was not statistically significant at 0.05 level (r=0.276,
p=0.140). The education of the mothers (x2(df) =11.642(3), p=0.009) had significant association with the knowledge of the mother
regarding new-born care. Keeping in mind the findings of the study it is recommended that an educational programme regarding new-
born care can be organized to the antenatal and postnatal mothers
Keywords : knowledge, practice, newborn, post natal

Introduction : attitude and practice of neonatal care among postnatal

Children are the future of any nation. It is well established mothers in a tertiary care hospital, Neonatal Division,
that the welfare of a child and his future are totally Department of Pediatrics, in South India among 100
dependent upon the care and attention bestowed upon postnatal mothers on knowledge on and attitude towards
him before and after birth. Care of the children had always neonatal care and the practices they follow. Findings of the
traditionally been the forte of mothers irrespective of study showed that knowledge of mothers was inadequate
education, income and social class differences. The in areas of umbilical cord care (35%), thermal care (76%)
important task of motherhood is to fulfill physical, and vaccine preventable diseases. Nineteen percentages
emotional, social, intellectual and moral needs of children. of them still practice oil instillation into nostrils of
There is no doubt that a mother plays an important role in newborns and 61% of them administer gripe water to their
this regard. babies. This study indicates that awareness and attitude of
Access this article online postnatal mothers towards neonatal care has lots of
Quick Response Code Available research studies
lacunae especially in those who belong to the lower socio-
reveals that mothers had
economic status3. Thus the poor knowledge on part of
average to poor knowledge
Mothers can lead to disastrous results in the field of care
on new born care 1, 2
A
giving. There is scope for improvement by providing better
descriptive study was
care and health education for antenatal mothers. If the
conducted on Knowledge,
mothers are not acquainted with knowledge pertaining to

Keywords : knowledge, practice, newborn, post natal - Fabina Castalino 98

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Nitte University Journal of Health Science

dangers signs, hygienic practices, feeding, weaning, health points. For the negative questions yes carried zero point,
and nutrition including growth and behavior of children, it No carried two points, Always carried zero,
might affect the rearing of their children. Providing timely Sometimes carried one and Never carried two points
education in the form of intervention to the mothers could respectively. All the tools were validated, pretested and
fill these gaps in knowledge of child care. It is necessary to reliability was established. Tools were translated to
assess the knowledge of mothers who are going to take Kannada and language validity was established by
care of newborn babies. Because for a newborns most retranslating the Kannada version of the tool to English.
frequent caretaker is their own mothers and it is mothers Data was collected in the month of February 2012.
knowledge and practices that the shapes the future of the
Statistical analysis :
new born. Thus the present study was undertaken to assess
Statistical package for social sciences software (version 16)
the assess the knowledge of mothers regarding newborn
was used for statistical analysis of raw data
care, find out the practices of mothers regarding newborn
care and to find the relationship between knowledge and Results :
practice of mothers regarding newborn Sample characteristics
The data collected to describe the sample characteristics
Material and Methods :
were age, type of delivery, religion, education, type of
A descriptive correlational study was carried out in the
family, place of residence, occupation and the newborn
postnatal wards of selected tertiary care hospital of Udupi
characteristics like gestational age of the newborn, age of
district after obtaining the ethical clearance from
the newborn, gender of the newborn, birth weight of the
institutional ethical committee and administrative
newborn. Description is presented in Table 1.
permission. A convenient sample of 30 mothers was
selected for the study. An informed written consent was Good
obtained after assuring the anonymity and confidentiality Excellent
from the mothers. Three tools were used for data
collection. Tool 1: Demographic Proforma, Tool 2:
Knowledge questionnaire on newborn care and Tool 3:
Practice questionnaire on newborn care. A structured
questionnaire in the form of multiple choice questions was
developed to determine the knowledge level of postnatal
mothers on newborn care. The questionnaire had 20 items. Figure 1. Frequency percentage distribution of the sample based
The correct response carried one mark, thus the maximum on the knowledge on Newborn care
possible score was 20. The areas included in the tool were Good
Excellent
breast feeding, baby's normal findings, warmth, infection,
danger signs and immunization.

Structured practice questionnaire was developed to

determine the practice of postnatal mothers on newborn
care. The tool consisted of 20 items. The questionnaire had
both positive and negative questions. For the positive
questions, answer yes carried two points and No Figure 2. Frequency and percentage distribution of mothers
carried zero points. Always carried two points, based on practice of newborn care

Sometimes carried one point and Never carried zero

Keywords : knowledge, practice, newborn, post natal - Fabina Castalino 99

 NUJHS Vol. 4, No.2, June 2014, ISSN 2249-7110

Nitte University Journal of Health Science

Table 1: Frequency and percentage distribution of mothers had excellent practice and 14(46.67%) had good practice
based on demographic characteristics. n=30 on newborn care, which is depicted in figure 2.
Sample Characteristic Frequency Percentage (%)
1. Age in years Description of knowledge & practice scores of mothers
21-30 24 80
The mean of knowledge score was 12.5 with SD of 2.31,
31-40 6 20
2. Parity and mean of practice score was 34.4 with SD 3.5.
Primipara 16 53.3
Multipara 14 46.7 Relationship between knowledge and practice score of
3. Mode of Delivery the mothers
Normal Vaginal delivery 15 50
To test significant relationship between knowledge and
LSCS 15 50
4. Religion practice, Pearson correlation coefficient was calculated
Hindu 25 83.3 which revealed a statistically non significant relationship
Muslim 3 10.0
between knowledge and practice at 0.05 level of
Christian 2 6.7
5. Education significance.
Up to Secondary 14 46.7
Pre-University & Diploma 9 30.0 Association between knowledge of mothers on newborn
Diploma & Graduate 9 16.7 care and selected variables
Post-graduate 5 6.7
Education status of the mothers (x2(df) =11.642(3), p=0.009)
6. Type of family
Joint 19 63.3 had significant association with the knowledge of the
Nuclear 11 36.7 mother regarding newborn care. Other demographic
7. Area of Residence
variables did not show any statistically significant
Urban 13 43.3
Rural 17 56.7 association with knowledge score of the mothers.
8. Occupation
Housewife 17 56.7 Discussion :
Unskilled &Semiskilled 5 16.7 In the present study majority of mothers had excellent
Middleclass officer &
knowledge and practice on newborn care. The findings are
Semi professional 5 16.7
Professional 5 10 supported by a survey study conducted in 2006 which
revealed that mothers' knowledge and practices were
The demographic characteristics of newborn baby's shows within good and satisfactory average scores in most of the
that 19 (63.3%), were male & 11 (36.7%) were female. Most studied items related to newborn care giving at home
of the babies 24 (80%) were above 37 weeks of gestation, except breast feeding4. The study findings also revealed
16 (53.3%) of the babies weighed above 3000grams at birth that mothers with higher educational status had better
& majority, 21 (70%) were below 6 days of age & 9 (30%) knowledge. Similar findings are reported in other studies
were above 7 days.
also5. Based on the findings of the study it is concluded that
Distribution of mothers based on knowledge on newborn postnatal mothers admitted in tertiary care hospital of
care Udupi had excellent knowledge on newborn care. As the
The findings of the study showed that 23 (76.7%) of knowledge increases the practice of mothers on newborn
mothers had good knowledge and only 7 (23.3%) had care improves. The knowledge is independent of
excellent knowledge which is depicted in figure 1. educational status. So there is need to identify the mothers
with low educational status and awareness programme to
Distribution of mothers based on practice on new born be implemented at antenatal period itself so that the
care. newborn care can be improved. The setting and sample
The analysis of data showed that 16 (53.33%) of mothers were selected on convenient basis limits its

Keywords : knowledge, practice, newborn, post natal - Fabina Castalino 100

 NUJHS Vol. 4, No.2, June 2014, ISSN 2249-7110

Nitte University Journal of Health Science

generalizability. There is need to carry out a large scale

study to explore the different practices adopted by the
mothers to provide best care to their babies.

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Keywords : knowledge, practice, newborn, post natal - Fabina Castalino 101