Effect of Instructional Program on Improving Mothers' Home Care Practicesfortheir newbornsat SlumsAreas in Cairo

Abstract

Neonatal health is the key to child survival. Improving neonatal home care practice may substantially improve survival of newborn babies in the first month of life. The study aims to assess the effect of instructional program on improving mothers' home care practices for their newborns at slums areas in Cairo. Setting: The study was conducted at three Maternal and Child Health Centers that are attached to slums areas in Cairo governorate which are:El-khusus, Al-Zawya Al-Hamra and El Wailya in El-Abassia area. Subjects: A purposive sample consisted of 162 postnatal primipara mothers and their alive newborns. The tools for data collection include; (1) an interviewing questionnaire format (pre/post), (2) the reported practice checklists (pre/post) as regard breast feeding, thermal control, skin care and hygienic, safe cord care and safety measures practices and (3) the instructional program for newborn's home care practice. The results of the study revealed that, mothers' ages ranged from 18 years to 40 years, with a mean of 23.3±5.6 years. The majority of the studied mothers (87.7%) were lived in flat and 54.3% of them were lived in one room with 48.1% of them had moderate ventilation. Also, there are marked improvements of all aspects of mothers' home care practice after implementation of instructional program (paired t= 3.708). Conclusion: The study concluded that the implementation of instructional program regarding mothers' home care practices had a positive effect on improving mothers' reported practices. Recommendations: The study recommends mothers' classes intervention should be conducted on regular basis to discuss and teach them different aspects of home care practices for their newborn and replication of this study with a larger sample of different slums areas with longitudinal follow-up, so that the results could be generalized