Kangaroo mother care practice and its associated factors among postnatal mothers who gave birth in public general hospitals of Eastern and Central zone, Tigray, North Ethiopia

Abstract

Background:Kangaroo mother care (KMC) practice ‘is the early, prolonged and continuous skin-to skin contact between the mother and her low birth weight baby that practiced in the hospital and after early discharge until at least the 40 th weeks of postnatal period with exclusive breast feeding and proper follow-up’. Low birth weight is an underling factor in 60-80% of all neonatal deaths. Therefore, this study aimed to assess kangaroo mother care practice and its associated factors among post natal mothers who gave birth in public hospitals of Eastern and Central zone, Tigray, North Ethiopia.Methods:An institutional based cross-sectional study was conducted in Eastern and central zone of Tigray Region from March –August/2019. A total of 411 study participants were selected using simple random sampling technique. Binary and Multiple logistic regression analysis were used to see the association of independent variables to the outcome variable at a P<0.05 using SPSS version 20.0 software.Results:A total of 397 study participants were included in the study with a response rate of 96.6%. Of these, the mean age of the respondents was 27.4(±5.7). More than half (54.4%) of mothers were practiced KMC to their low birth weight baby. Mothers age [AOR (95%CI):0.21(0.05,0.95)], occupational status of mothers [AOR (95%CI): 0.11(0.04,0.34)], occupational status of fathers [AOR (95%CI): 4.1(1.54,11.07)], monthly income[AOR(95%CI): 0.27(0.09,0.76)], place of delivery [AOR(95%CI):0.29(0.11,0.76) and complications of newborn baby at birth [AOR(95%):3.1(1.21,8.09)] were the factors significantly associated with kangaroo mother care practice.Conclusion:There was low proportion of mothers practiced kangaroo mother care to their low birth weight baby. Hence, health care providers should demonstrate for family members and mothers on how to practice kangaroo mother care immediately after delivery in health institution and to be continued at home.