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Mothers Awareness Regarding Danger Signs of Neonatal Illnesses at a Selected Hospital in Trivandrum
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Neonatal mortality and morbidity are the greatest challenges in the current health care scenario. Majority of neonates die because mothers fail to identify danger signs of illness, and inappropriate/delayed care seeking. The present study was undertaken to assess mothers' awareness regarding danger signs of neonatal illnesses and to identify the factors influencing their awareness in a tertiary hospital at Trivandrum.
This descriptive cross sectional survey was conducted among mothers of 70 infants attending OPDs and admitted in postnatal wards of a multispecialty tertiary hospital in Trivandrum, enrolled through purposive sampling. Interviews were conducted with mother using a validated structured interview schedule. The data were analysed using SPSS.
Results showed that all mothers (100%) knew when to seek care for their neonates and majority (77.1%) received information from their family members. The mean knowledge scores of mothers regarding newborn danger signs was 57.1 ± 8.0 (67.2%), which was good. Out of seventy mothers, 3 (4.3%) had very good knowledge, 51 (72.9%) good knowledge, and 16 (22.9%) average knowledge. The knowledge scores were less than 50% only for convulsions (47.6%) and hypothermia (38.3%). Improvement in mothers' knowledge was significantly associated with increasing age (p<0.01). The study concluded that educational interventions needs to be provided for post natal mothers, before discharge, regarding danger signs in newborns, especially regarding convulsions and hypothermia.
Keywords
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