Awareness, perception and practice of kangaroo mother care among mothers attending antenatal/postnatal clinic in selected PHC’s in Badagry, Lagos State

Abstract

Background: In Nigeria, kangaroo mother care (KMC) as a method for caring for small babies was systematically reintroduced through the US agency for international development's ACCESS program in 2007. The FMOH launched the Nigeria every newborn action plan, which included KMC as part of essential care for preterm/low-birth weight babies in 2016.
Objective : Awareness, perception and practice of kangaroo mother care among mothers attending antenatal/postnatal clinic in selected PHCs in Badagry, Lagos state.
Methods: This is a quantitative, cross sectional descriptive study that utilized a multi-stage sampling technique to select 420 respondents from three comprehensive PHCs in Badagry LGA of Lagos state. Data were collected using a self-structured questionnaire with four sections. Data were analyzed using SPSS 22.0, descriptive statistics were presented in tables and charts, inferential statistic were tested with Chi-square at a significant level of p = 0.05.
Result: The mean age of the respondents was 29.89±3.56, majority 278(73.2%) had moderate level of awareness of KMC, 326(85.8%) had a positive perception while 224(58.9%) had a poor practice of KMC. There was a statistically significant association between awareness of KMC and the practice of KMC with p = 0.01 also there was no statistically significant relationship between practice of KMC and the perception of KMC with p = 0.97.
Conclusion: Though majority of the respondents had moderate awareness of KMC, their practice was poor. More teachings and demonstration of KMC should be given to mothers during health education at the ANC and postnatal clinics.