Mothers Awareness Regarding Danger Signs of Neonatal Illnesses at a Selected Hospital in Trivandrum

Neonatal mortality and morbidity are the greatest challenges in the current health care scenario. Majority of neonates die because mothers fail to identify danger signs of illness, and inappropriate/delayed care seeking. The present study was undertaken to assess mothers' awareness regarding danger signs of neonatal illnesses and to identify the factors influencing their awareness in a tertiary hospital at Trivandrum.

This descriptive cross sectional survey was conducted among mothers of 70 infants attending OPDs and admitted in postnatal wards of a multispecialty tertiary hospital in Trivandrum, enrolled through purposive sampling. Interviews were conducted with mother using a validated structured interview schedule. The data were analysed using SPSS.

Results showed that all mothers (100%) knew when to seek care for their neonates and majority (77.1%) received information from their family members. The mean knowledge scores of mothers regarding newborn danger signs was 57.1 ± 8.0 (67.2%), which was good. Out of seventy mothers, 3 (4.3%) had very good knowledge, 51 (72.9%) good knowledge, and 16 (22.9%) average knowledge. The knowledge scores were less than 50% only for convulsions (47.6%) and hypothermia (38.3%). Improvement in mothers' knowledge was significantly associated with increasing age (p<0.01). The study concluded that educational interventions needs to be provided for post natal mothers, before discharge, regarding danger signs in newborns, especially regarding convulsions and hypothermia.