TITLE:
Knowledge and Attitude of Nurse-Midwives Regarding Maternal Health Care Quality Standards in Two Regional Teaching and Referral Hospitals in Kenya
AUTHORS:
Domisiano Koome Impwii, Lucy Kivuti-Bitok, Anna Karani
KEYWORDS:
Maternal Health Care, Quality, Standards, Nurse-Midwife, Kenya
JOURNAL NAME:
Open Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology,
Vol.12 No.9,
September
8,
2022
ABSTRACT: Introduction: Maternal mortality remains a major health concern in Sub-Saharan Africa
and Kenya in particular. Providing quality maternal health care has the
potential of preventing over 75% of maternal deaths. The quality of maternal
health care requires the utilization of maternal health care quality standards. Objectives: The objective of this study was to determine the
nurse-midwives knowledge and attitude toward the use of maternal health care quality standards. Methodology: This
study was a descriptive cross-sectional survey carried out at Embu and
Meru teaching and referral hospitals in Kenya, between August and December
2021. Eighty-five nurse-midwives working in the maternity unit participated in
the study. Data was collected using a self-administered semi-structured
questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS version 27.0. Pearson’s correlation
coefficient and Chi-square at Alpha level of 0.05 were used to test the
relationship between the variables which were the nurse-midwives knowledge,
attitude, and use of the quality standards. Result: Most (84.7%, n = 72)
nurse-midwives were female and 44.7% (n = 38) were aged 20 - 29 years. Majority
(64.7%, n = 55) were diploma holders and almost half (44.7%, n = 38) had practiced for 1 - 9 years. The
average score for knowledge was 5.0 with 69.4% (n = 59) having a score of
in maternity. There was no significant association between knowledge and
use of maternal health care quality standards (X2 = 0.433, r = -0.085). There is no association between support for the standards and their
use (X2 = 0.008). Knowledge and attitude toward the maternal health
care quality standards are not significantly associated (X2 =
0.156). Conclusion: The knowledge and attitude of the nurse-midwife neither influence each other nor do they influence the use of maternal health
care quality standards.