Knowledge, Attitude and Practice Regarding Kangaroo Mother Care among Postnatal Mothers attending at a Tertiary Level Hospital of Kathmandu

Abstract

Introduction: Prematurity is the leading cause of death in under 5 children due to lack of feasible, affordable and effective low-cost care to prevent complications like hypothermia at early stage of life. Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) is proven useful technique to reduce such complications. It is extremely necessary to have knowledge and good practice regarding KMC among postnatal mothers.

Methods: Descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted at TUTH, Maharajgunj Kathmandu. The study sample was selected by using nonprobality complete enumerative sampling method, and semi structured tool was used to assemble the data. Data were analyzed using SPSS version 26. Descriptive analyses were performed and Chi-square analyses were used to find out the association of independent variables.

Results: Among 76 postnatal mothers mean age was 28.8±5.9 years, 32.80% had excellent knowledge, 97.4% had positive attitude and 61.80% had good practice regarding KMC. The study showed significant association between knowledge and information variable (p=0.000), practice is also associated with information variable and education with p=0.000 and p=0.011 respectively.

Conclusions: Nearly half (44.70%) of the postnatal mothers had poor knowledge but more than half (55.20%) had good practice toward KMC and almost all (97.40%) had positive attitude towards KMC.