Effectiveness of New Born Care Programme on Perceived Maternal Competence and Satisfaction of Nigerian Mothers

Abstract

The new born needs frequent care. This depends on the mother’s awareness, attitude and skills, thus maternal competence is vital. Therefore a new born care teaching programme to increase maternal competence and satisfaction is needed. To determine the effect of new born care programme on maternal competence and association between the maternal competence and selected demographic profiles among antenatal mothers, a Quasi - experimental pretest- posttest design study with control group was conducted.

80 pregnant mothers attending antenatal clinic were recruited based on the inclusion criteria.

The intervention was new born care programme using audio-visual teaching. The study group and comparison group had 40 participants each. Outcomes were measured with the Parenting Sense of Competence (PSOC) scale at baseline and post intervention at two days after delivery.

Mothers who received new born care program had an improvement in the maternal competence from low (pretest) to high (post test) satisfaction rating. Significant difference was identified between the pretest and post test of the study group according to efficacy (t= 3.92, p = 0.0078) and satisfaction (t = 4.748, p = 0.0014). There was a significant difference (p = 0.0397, t = -2.453) in the level of maternal competence between the study and comparison group after the new born care programme at satisfaction rating. Significant relationship was established (P<0.05) between the level of maternal competence and age (x²= 8.95, p= 0.014) and parity (x²=6.85, p = 0.0325) only but not with education, employment and family support.

The new born care program was effective in improving the maternal competence of antenatal mothers. Mother’s age and parity were identified to influence maternal competence.  We therefore suggest that new born care program be used to enhance the knowledge and competence of mothers on new born care using audio-visual teaching method.

Keywords: Antenatal mothers, Maternal competence, New born care program, Parenting Sense of Competence (PSOC) scale, Satisfaction