TITLE:
Mothers’ Knowledge of Health Caring for Premature Infants after Discharge from Neonatal Intensive Care Units in the Gaza Strip, Palestine
AUTHORS:
Ali Aldirawi, Ali El-Khateeb, Ayman Abu Mustafa, Samer Abuzerr
KEYWORDS:
Mother’s Knowledge, Preterm Neonates, Post-Discharge, Health Care, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Pediatrics,
Vol.9 No.3,
September
26,
2019
ABSTRACT: Background: Preterm labor is one of the most public health problems related to
neonates admitted to Neonatal Intensive Care Unit (NICU). Poor knowledge among
mothers about the care requirements of a preterm neonate is immediate cause for post-discharge medical problems in
premature and neonates readmission to NICU. Hence, this study aims to evaluate mothers’
knowledge of caring for premature infants post-discharge from Neonatal Intensive
Care Units in the Gaza strip. Methods: A Quantitative-based cross-sectional
designs study was used to survey 120 mothers of preterm neonates at the time of
preterm neonates discharge by face-to-face interview at Al-Shifa medical
complex and Nasser hospital between February and June 2018. Results: The
results showed that only about 58.4% of mothers of premature babies had good
knowledge about health care needed for premature infants after discharge from
NICU. Furthermore, there was no statistically significant difference between the
level of knowledge and mother’s sociodemographic characteristics (P-values
> 0.05). Conclusion: Mothers’ knowledge of premature infants care was
not at the optimal level, which might put the newborns at risk. Therefore, the
study emphasizes the necessity of thoughtful exchange of health information
between team members and mothers and establishing pre- and post-discharge plans
with mothers to start their healthy transition of preterm neonate to home and
to ameliorate family concerns.