Impact of newborn education on maternal role

Abstract

This study evaluated the effectiveness of a structured teaching booklet on forty first-time mothers' knowledge of the physical care of the newborn. The teaching booklet, Caring/or Your New Baby (Appendix C), was used in a two-group comparison study to evaluate the booklet. Levels of knowledge and confidence in the mothers were also measured. The instruments included a demographic questionnaire, and the Newborn Education questionnaire. Role theory was utilized to interpret the data and to provide the framework for the study. Descriptive statistics was used to analyze the data. Results indicated no statistically significant difference between mothers who had received the teaching booklet and mothers who had not received the booklet. Both groups had little knowledge in reading temperatures, infant feeding schedules, and identifying colic and dehydration, but scored 100 percent in the use of car seats, identifying jaundice and need for immunizations. The control group did have one half more triage calls to the clinic than the experimental group. The findings of the study indicated higher ratings for both groups at the two-week posttest. Their levels of knowledge and confidence increased whether or not they had received the teaching booklet.