Maternal Practices in Care of their Infants at El-fayoum Governorate: An Assessment Study

Abstract

Maternal rearing practices are a major determinant of morbidity and mortality status of infants.Infant morbidity and mortality is attributed to improper infant care practices which depend on the knowledge, attitude and practice of the caregivers (mothers) in addition to other factors like availability and accessibility of medical services(Joseph, et al., 2013). Pediatric nurse must thoroughly assess all aspects of infant growth and development including nutrition, immunizations, safety, sleep, hygiene, dental care and other common concerns. So, the nurse can explore the actual infant care practices in the community andthe social pattern & customs influencing them.An appreciation of the hazards or conflicts of each developmental period enables the nurse to guide parents regarding childrearing practices aimed at improving the health status of infants and preventing the potential problems at the primary care level(Wilson, 2013a). The present study is descriptive aimed to assess maternal practices in care of their infants at El-Fayoum Governorate. This study was conducted at five urban medical centers and fifteen rural maternal and child health centers at El-Fayoum Governorate. The study involved a purposive sample (1580) of mothers representing El-Fayoum Governorate who had infants during the first year of life and attended in the previously mentioned setting over a period of nine months regardless their characteristics (age, educational level and socioeconomic standard).

Data were collected by using two tools; the first one was an interviewing questionnaire that was designed and written in a simple Arabic language by the researcher in the light of relevant literature to assess the maternal knowledge and reported practices in care of their infants which consisted of two parts; part 1 was concerned with characteristics of the study sample and part 2 was concerned with mother's knowledge and reported practices regarding to infant's care. The second tool was checklists for the reported mothers' practices in infants' care related procedures (infant bath, umbilical cord stump care, diaper area care, breastfeeding and artificial bottle feeding). Validity and Reliability of tools: Validity was done by five experts in pediatric nursing field regarding content, consistency and clarity of data collection tools. Accordingly, some items in the tools were modified. The reliability coefficient for the study tools was calculated using the correlation coefficient Alpha (Cronbach) and ranged between the values (0.82 to 0.99) that are statistically accepted as is a very high coefficient. Administrative design and Ethical considerations: A written official directed letter was obtained from the dean of nursing faculty at El-Fayoum University to get the directorate of health affairs at El-Fayoum Governorate permission to conduct the study after clear explanation about the study aim and its benefits. Verbal approvals were obtained from allmothersbeforeinclusion inthestudywithassuring the anonymity, confidentiality and the right of withdrawing from the study at any time without giving any reason.

Pilot study: A pilot study was conducted for 10% (158) of the study subjects to assess the constructed tools for its simplicity, applicability and time required to fulfill the tools. Omissions or additions of certain items were done. It took about one month from the beginning of December 2014 to the end of January 2015. Those who shared in the pilot were excluded later from the study sample.