INTRODUCTION:

“Every human being is another of his own health or disease.”

-Buddha.

Kangaroo care is a technique of direct skin to skin contact between Mothers (or fathers) and their premature infants. It has shown to improve the mother’s psychological state, strengthen mother and infant bonding and stimulate maternal lactation.¹

Dr. Nils Bergman, Medical superintendent of Mow brayMaternity Hospital in Cape Town, South Africa, has been researching KMC for twelve years.

He believes restoring the original model of the infant-mother early carerather than our present incubator, bottle and feeding formula model can result in happier and healthier babies.²

Inferring from mammalian animal behavior, believe that there is much wrong with our present way of treating the newborn.On recent findings in neuro-endocrinology. Bergman explains that it is the newborn infant itself which begins and directs the attachment process that is aided by skin contact with the mother. The mother responds to her infant’s “attachment program’’ and mother and infant set up a mutually stimulating system to which both respond by altering hormonal outputs. As an example, Bergman says that if the newborn is placed on the mother’s chest, within one hour, the baby will put itself to the breast, find the nipple and begin nursing.³

One of the problems with our present attitude of unnecessarily separating mother from infant is that the newborn exhibits the protest despair response as soon as it is removed from her. This sorrowful and despairing wailing is the survival mechanism of an infant in pain trying to bring its mother back. Sadly, if this doesn’t work, and the mother doesn’t appear, the baby becomes too tired to cry any more. It gives up in despair, and to conserve energy for survival. I believe that it is not only an automated reflex as the baby consciously wants to be with its mother. Many of us in primal therapy have discovered this truth.⁴

Approximately 13 million babies are born prematurely worldwide. Of these, 11 million are born in Asia and Africa, with 17.5% born in south- Africa.1 Prematurity is considered to account for 27% of four million neonatal deaths annually. In low-income countries, the mortality rate of premature infants is six times higher than that of high-income countries. Kangaroo mother care (KMC) has been proven to be an acceptable and feasible method to decrease the mortality rate of premature infants in low- and high-income countries. 2 A 2005 audit carried out in South Africa found that the rate of death in the first week of life for infants weighing 1 000 g was 8.7 out of 1 000, and in rural areas, it was 10.42 out of 1 000.⁵

NEED FOR STUDY:

According to Victora and Rubens, there are barriers to KMC implementation that still need to be addressed. These include the misconception that KMC is only for the poor, that it increases the hospital staff workload, cultural opposition to it, exposure of the mother’s body to medical staff, resistance to exclusive breastfeeding, staff’s objection to early discharge practices, and a lack of policies and resources for follow-up. Reasons for resistance to KMC implementation by nursing staff in developing countries included their perception that KMC is sub-standard, and that it represents extra work for staff.¹²

Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) restores to mothers their true ownership of their newborns, and it restores to newborns their birth right-their right to the best start in life.¹³

Worldwide each year over 400,000 newborns die within the first 24 hours of their birth. About two million children, under five year of age die in each year, of these more than half die in the first month of their birth.¹⁴

OBJECTIVES OF STUDY:

1 To assess the pre test knowledge scores regarding Kangaroo Mother Care

Among antenatal mothers

2 To assess the post test knowledge scores regarding Kangaroo Mother Care

Among antenatal mothers

3 To evaluate the effectiveness of planned teaching programme regarding

Kangaroo Mother Care among antenatal mothers.

HYPOTHESIS:

H1: “The mean post-test knowledge scores of mothers will be significantly higher than mean pretest knowledge scores regarding kangaroo care.”

H2: “There will be significant association between the level of knowledge and selected demographic variables.”

METHODOLOGY:

The methodology of the study indicates the research design, the choice of research approach, the setting of the study description of population sample and sampling technique, inclusion and exclusion criteria and plan of data analysis. An Survey research approach was adopted for this study. The quasi experimental study pre-test post – test design without control approach was carried out in the selected hospital in Mehsana city on 30 Patients to assess the effectiveness of PT. The content validated tested tool was used to collect the data. The collected data was analyzed by using the descriptive.

RESULTS:

Demographic data was analyzed using frequency and percentage. Frequencies, percentage, mean, mean percentage, Variable, Mean-difference, t value, and standard deviation was used to determine the knowledge score.

Section A- Data on demographic variables of antenatal mothers.

Section B- Data on assessment of knowledge of antenatal mothers in KMC.

Section C- Data on significant association between the score and selected demographic variables of antenatal mothers.

Finding related to demographic data:

Frequency and percentage of demographic variables of antenatal mothers.

Regarding age, categories of the respondents has been divided into four different categories. Among Antenatal mother, 20% of respondents belongs to age below 18 years, 33.3% of respondents belongs to age group of 19 – 26, 23.3% of respondents belongs to age 26-30 years and 23.3% of respondents belongs to age group of above 30 years.

Regarding education status, categories of respondents has been divided into four different categories Antenatal mother 43.3% respondents belongs to secondary, 36.6% respondents belongs to higher secondary, 20% respondents belongs to graduation.

Regarding religion of respondents has been divided into four different categories among Antenatal mother 100%, % respondents belong to Hindu and 00% respondents belongs to Muslim, 00% respondents belong to Christian and 00% respondents belong to other.

Regarding type of family of the respondents has been divided into three different categories. Among Antenatal mother, respondents belongs to nuclear, 40% respondents belongs to joint, 60% respondents belongs to extended.

Regarding previous knowledge about KMC, categories has been divided into two. Among Antenatal mother, 36.6% respondents had previous knowledge and 63.3% respondents did not had any previous knowledge.

Regarding source of knowledge, categories has been divided into three. Among Antenatal mother, 23.3% respondents by media, 43.3% by friends, 33.3% by relatives.

Reveals that during pre-test, none antenatal mother had adequate level of knowledge about kangaroo mother care, (30%) antenatal mother had moderate level of knowledge and (6.66%) antenatal mother had inadequate level of knowledge (3.33%) about kangaroo mother care.

During post-test, (3.33%) antenatal mother had adequate level of knowledge about kangaroo mother care, (33.33%) women had moderate level of knowledge and (60%) had inadequate level of knowledge about kangaroo mother care.

Reveals that during pre test, the mean score of level of knowledge was 9.86 and the standard deviation was 3.30. During post test, the mean score of level of knowledge was 16.9 and the standard deviation was 2.99. This indicates that the Structure teaching programme knowledge of kangaroo mother care among antenatal mothers

CONCLUSION:

The main conclusion from this present study is that the antenatal mother had inadequate and moderate level of knowledge regarding KMC in test t and their level of knowledge regarding KMC had improved to a great extent after structured teaching planned which was revealed after the survey test. This shows the imperative need to understand the utilities of structured teaching planned in improvement of knowledge regarding KMC among antenatal mother at selected hospital in patan city and it will improve the standard of healthy living by knowing regarding KMC among antenatal mother in patan city.

REFERENCES:

1. Shetty AP. Kangaroo Mother Care. The Nsg Jour of India 2007 Nov 1;XCVIII(11): P. 249-51.

2. Park K. Text Book of Preventive and Social Medicine. 19^th ed. Jabalpur: Banarasidas Bhanot Publications; 2007. p. 427

3. Wong DL. Nursing care of Infants and Children. 5^th ed. Missouri: Mosby Publications; 1995. p. 383.

4. Garbriel J, Ruiz-Pelaez ,Charpark N. Kangaroo Mother Care, an example for follow from developing countries. BMJ[Serial online] 2004 Nov [cited on 2008

5. Gupte S. The short text book of Pediatrics. 10^thed. New Delhi: Jaypee Brothers Medical Publishers (P) Ltd; 2004. p. 617.

6. Ramanathan K, Paul VK, Deorari AK, Taneia U, George G. Kangaroo Mother Care in very low birth weight. Indian J Peidatr[serial online] 2007 Oct [cited on 2008 Nov 12]; 68:1019-1023. Available from: URL: http://www. pubmed.com

7. Mbazor OJ, Umeora OU. Incidence and risk factors for low birth weight among term singletons at the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), Benin City, Nigeria. J ClinPract[serial online] 2007 Jun [cited on 2008 Nov 23]; 10(2):95-9. Available from: URL: http://www. pubmed.com

8. Mallet I, Bomy H, Govaert N, Gouda I, Brasme C, Dubois A, et al. Skin to skin contact in Neonatal care: knowledge and expectations of professionals in Neonatal intensive care units. Arch Pediatr[serial online] 2007 Jul [cited on 2008 Nov 12]; 14(7): 881-6. Available from: URL: http://www. pubmed.com

9. Kaur R, Narula S, Parmar V, Kumar A, Basu S, Kavita R, Sharma R, et al. Intermittent Kangaroo Mother Care in Neonatal Intensive care. Workshop on Kangaroo Mother Care at Neocon. 2004 Oct 28.

10. Basavanthappa BT. Nursing Research. 2^nded. New Delhi: Jaypee Brothers Medical Publishers; 2007. p. 93-103.

Received on 18.04.2020 Modified on 10.05.2020

Asian J. Nursing Education and Research. 2020; 10(3): 305-307.

DOI: 10.5958/2349-2996.2020.00063.4