Knowledge of postnatal maternal danger signs among mothers attending well baby clinics in Nakuru County Kenya: A descriptive cross-sectional study

Abstract

Background: Maternal and neonatal mortality continues to be a major challenge worldwide. The burden of maternal complications and deaths is highest in the first seven days of delivery. The early self-identification of postnatal maternal danger signs is one of the community strategies to assist in early referral and treatment of complications.
Objectives: The study was to assess the level of knowledge on postnatal maternal danger signs and associated factors among mothers attending well baby clinics in Nakuru county of Kenya.
Study design: Hospital-based cross sectional descriptive study.
Study Setting: Eight purposively sampled health facilities that offer comprehensive maternal care in Nakuru County
Subjects: Mothers attending well baby clinic with babies aged two weeks to nine months.
Interventions: The selected mothers were interviewed using structured questionnaires after giving consent.
Main outcome measures: Data was analyzed using SPSS software (version 20) to determine frequencies, chi square and multivariate logistic regression.
Results: A total of 414 postnatal mothers were recruited into the study. Up to 57% had received information of maternal danger signs during antenatal care attendance. Only 12% of the interviewed mothers could identify more than 4 postnatal maternal danger signs.
Conclusion: Gaps in knowledge on postnatal maternal danger signs were observed in majority of the mothers. Mothers’ receiving information of postnatal obstetric danger signs from health care provider and reading the MCH booklet were the major factors that were associated with knowledge on postnatal maternal danger signs.