Revista de Enfermagem e Cuidados

Neonatal Danger Signs: Attitude and Practice of Post-Natal Mothers

Abstract

Reena Thakur, Rajesh Kumar Sharma*, Laxmi Kumar and Sanchita Pugazhendi

Background: A mother is the nearest person to a neonate to identify, present and manage the neonates' problem, which ensure that neonate can lead a healthy life. Every year four million babies die in the first month of life and a quarter of these take place in India. About 98% of new-born deaths occur in developing countries, where most new-borns deaths occur at home. The main obstacles in improving new-born survival are that many babies are born at home without skilled attendance. Hence the present study was aimed to assess the attitude and practice of mothers to recognize neonatal danger signs and various household practices followed by mother to identify and to treat danger signs. Materials and method: A descriptive cross-sectional study with quantitative approach was undertaken on 100 post natal mothers by convenient sampling technique with the objective to assess the attitude and practice of post natal mothers regarding neonatal danger signs. Attitude scale and self-reporting practice check-list were used as a data collection tools. Results: Result of the study shows that 61% of mothers had moderate attitude, 39% of mothers had favorable attitude. Whereas, practice level was high among majority (90.56%) of the post natal mothers regarding neonatal danger signs. There was a statistically significant correlation (r=0.401 at 0.01 level of significance) between attitude score and practice score. Conclusion: The study concluded that there is need to improve the attitude and practices of post natal mothers regarding neonatal danger signs either during antenatal visit, post natal period or at community level. Community based educational program should be launched to enhance knowledge, attitude and practice of post natal mothers regarding neonatal danger signs.