Promoting Health Practices of Teenage Mothers Regarding Health Care of Their Infants

Faten K. Elgendy; Hemat M. Abd ElMoneem; Amal K. A. Emam

doi:10.47104/ebnrojs3.v1i3.65

Faten K. Elgendy Faculty of Nursing, Ain Shams University
Hemat M. Abd ElMoneem Faculty of Nursing, Ain Shams University
Amal K. A. Emam Technical Health Institute, Ain Shams University

DOI: https://doi.org/10.47104/ebnrojs3.v1i3.65

Keywords: Health promotion, Teenage mothers, Infant care

Abstract

Context: The care the infant receives depends a lot on the knowledge, skills of the mother. The teenage mothers are supposed to be lacking in knowledge; practices of infant care need to improve their knowledge and practice for their infants.

Aim: This study aimed to evaluate promoting health practices of teenage mothers regarding the health care of their infants.

Methods: A quasi-experimental design applied to achieve the objective of the study. The study conducted in MCH centers (El Azab Health Center) located in Cairo governorate. A convenience sample of 124 teenage mothers recruited in this study. They are aged between 16-20 years and have an infant from 1 month to 18 months — three tools used for data collection. The first tool was a structured interview questionnaire, which consists of three parts includes socio-demographic data of teenage mothers and the characteristics of infants, second part included questions about teenage mothers' knowledge about their infant health care, third part includes questions about infant medical history. The second tool includes a checklist of teenage mothers practices related to the care of their infants and the third tool includes infant physical assessment.

Results: The main results of study revealed that near two thirds (65.3%) of the teenage mothers had good knowledge and more than three-fifths of them (61.3%) can done practices acceptably toward their infant care post-program. There was a statistically significant relation between teenage mothers' knowledge and practice regarding their infants care post-program at p=0.89.

Conclusion: Most teenage mothers post-program had a higher level of knowledge and practices regarding their infant care compared to the pre-programmed. The study recommended that special attention should be directed to teenage mothers and their infants to promote their knowledge and practices through a health education programs for teenage mothers who should be informed about all aspects of infants care in antenatal clinics, antenatal counseling, and postnatal classes.