Nursing education in Ghana must place emphasis on basic relational practices. Structural changes to health clinics and routine nursing practices are necessary to create conditions for privacy to address women's health concerns. Women's perspectives must be considered for service improvement. Further research is needed to examine nurses' perspectives on relational care.
Introduction: Labor and delivery process is an exciting, anxiety-provoking, but
rewarding time for a woman and her family after successful delivery of a newborn. The
intrapartum period is the time where mothers expect more care. Taking care of a
mother through delivery with no side effects is the task of a professional midwife who
is trained with the skill to take the responsibility of caring for mothers and babies.
Therefore, the aim of this study was to explore mother’s experiences regarding quality
of intrapartum nursing/midwifery care.
Methods: Focused ethnographic study was employed. Data were collected from May
to June 2016 TTH, Ghana using semi structured interview guide. Purposive sampling
was employed to recruit 20 participants. Eight individual interviews were conducted in
the post natal ward after 48 hours of delivery, followed by three focus group
discussions two weeks after delivery when mothers visited post natal clinic. Interviews
lasted for about 30-45 minutes during each session. Data were analyzed using thematic
analysis.
Results: The average age of women were 29 years with ranging from 19-43 years.
Participants’ experiences of nursing/midwifery care during birth were influenced by
reception and respect, provision of information, technical skill, providers’ behavior,
pain management and availability of nurses/midwives.
Conclusion: The study findings have revealed that women’s experience of care is
affected by a wide range of determinants. Therefore, maternal health programs and
policies in Ghana must take into account women’s perspective on the care they need
and their feedback on services they receive. Nursing education should re-enforce
communication/relational skills.
Background
Neonatal jaundice is a major reason babies are frequently re-admitted after hospital discharge following delivery. One means of improving neonatal care and reducing potential mortality associated with neonatal jaundice in resource-limited settings is to create awareness among caregivers. Caregivers who tend to have higher knowledge and awareness, also have positive attitudes, and are not guided by outmoded socio-cultural beliefs and practices are more likely to seek early care and treatment for neonatal jaundice.
Objective
This study investigated caregivers’ knowledge, attitude and practices regarding neonatal jaundice in a tertiary health facility in the Volta region of Ghana.
Methods
This was a descriptive cross-sectional study that employed a quantitative approach for data collection. A total of 202 caregivers from the Ho Teaching Hospital in the Volta region of Ghana were sampled using a systematic random sampling strategy where quantitative data was collected using a questionnaire and analyzed with STATA version 14.0. Ordered logistic regression was used to determine the factors that were associated with caregivers’ knowledge regarding neonatal jaundice and attitude after controlling for relevant covariates.
Results
Less than half of the caregivers demonstrated good knowledge (45.5%) and attitude (47.5%) but 58.9% had good practices regarding neonatal jaundice. Caregivers who had prior awareness and education on neonatal jaundice were three times more likely to have good knowledge about jaundice than those without previous education [AOR = 3.02, (95%CI: 1.59–5.74), p = 0.001]. A caregiver employed in the public sector was two times more likely to have a good attitude about jaundice than those employed in the private sector [AOR = 2.08, (95%CI: 1.03–4.21), p = 0.042].
Conclusion
Less than two thirds of the caregivers demonstrated good practice with limited knowledge and poor attitude. Efforts to promote well informed and improved caregivers’ attitude will advance positive maternal health-seeking behavior and reduce disabilities and death through early detection and intervention of infants with neonatal jaundice. Public awareness and education about neonatal jaundice especially among caregivers in the private sector should also be intensified.
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