FACTORS THAT INFLUENCE KANGAROO MOTHER CARE PRACTICE AMONG POSTNATAL NBU MOTHERS IN KISUMU COUNTY REFERRAL HOSPITAL- KISUMU COUNTY, KENYA

Abstract

Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) also known as skin-to-skin care is a method of providing care to premature and LBW newborns. In this practice, the baby is kept skin to skin with their caregiver mostly the mothers. KMC has been proven to provide warmth thereby preventing hypothermia which is a major cause of neonatal death worldwide. It also ensures exclusive breastfeeding hence increased rate of weight gain, prevents neonatal infections and increases bonding between the mother and child. The rate of neonatal death has reduced since the introduction of KMC but it’s still high, several researches have linked KMC to neonatal death and for this reason, the researcher decided to find out the factors influencing effective implementation of KMC. The purpose of the study was to determine factors that influence kangaroo mother care among postnatal mothers in Kisumu County Referral Hospital. It was a cross – sectional descriptive study. Since the study population was small,there was no need to determine a sample, census method was used where all postnatal NBU mothers with premature and LBW babies admitted at KCRH at the time of data collection and met inclusion criteria were included in the study. Researcher administered questionnaires with predetermined closed ended questions were used for primary data collection. The data collected was cleaned, coded and entered into an excel database which was password protected and analyzed using SPSS version 16.0 software. From the study, the factors identified to KMC are maternal anxiety; 10 out of 21 mothers (47.6%)reported to be anxious. Also, insufficient education about KMC: only 5 out of 21 mothers (23.8%) reported to be educated about KMC. Another factor is first time experience of kangaroo mother care practice: out of 21,only 2(8.7%) had conducted KMC to their other children. Another factor is, inadequate partner support in implementation of KMC:11 out of 21 mothers (52.6%) reported that their male partners did not support them in implementing KMC. Based on the findings, the study recommends that nurses and midwives should educate both men and women about KMC during antenatal visits, midwives should reassure mothers about the well- being of their preterm or low birth weight babies, nurses and midwives to provide psychological support to mothers to allay anxiety, the facility should create adequate and private spaces for KMC, the facility in collaboration with the government to ensure adequate staffing to offer support to the mothers and health care providers to encourage male involvement in KMC practice.