الفهرس 
Characteristics of Infancy PeriodOnly 14 pages are availabe for public view
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Abstract
Maternal rearing practices are a major determinant of morbidity
and mortality status of infants. Infant morbidity and mortality is
attributed to improper infant care practices which depend on the
knowledge, attitude and practice of the caregivers (mothers) in
addition to other factors like availability and accessibility of medical
services (Joseph, et al., 2013).
Pediatric nurse must thoroughly assess all aspects of infant
growth and development including nutrition, immunizations, safety,
sleep, hygiene, dental care and other common concerns. So, the nurse
can explore the actual infant care practices in the community and the
social pattern & customs influencing them. An appreciation of the
hazards or conflicts of each developmental period enables the nurse
to guide parents regarding childrearing practices aimed at improving
the health status of infants and preventing the potential problems at
the primary care level (Wilson, 2013a).
The present study is descriptive aimed to assess maternal
practices in care of their infants at El-Fayoum Governorate.
This study was conducted at five urban medical centers and
fifteen rural maternal and child health centers at El-Fayoum
Governorate. The study involved a purposive sample (1580) of
mothers representing El-Fayoum Governorate who had infants during
the first year of life and attended in the previously mentioned setting
over a period of nine months regardless their characteristics (age,
educational level and socioeconomic standard).Data were collected by using two tools; the first one was an
interviewing questionnaire that was designed and written in a simple
Arabic language by the researcher in the light of relevant literature to
assess the maternal knowledge and reported practices in care of their
infants which consisted of two parts; part 1 was concerned with
characteristics of the study sample and part 2 was concerned with
mother’s knowledge and reported practices regarding to infant’s care.
The second tool was checklists for the reported mothers’ practices in
infants’ care related procedures (infant bath, umbilical cord stump
care, diaper area care, breastfeeding and artificial bottle feeding).
Validity and Reliability of tools:
Validity was done by five experts in pediatric nursing field
regarding content, consistency and clarity of data collection tools.
Accordingly, some items in the tools were modified. The reliability
coefficient for the study tools was calculated using the correlation
coefficient Alpha (Cronbach) and ranged between the values (0.82 to
0.99) that are statistically accepted as is a very high coefficient.
Administrative design and Ethical considerations:
A written official directed letter was obtained from the dean of
nursing faculty at El-Fayoum University to get the directorate of
health affairs at El-Fayoum Governorate permission to conduct the
study after clear explanation about the study aim and its benefits.
Verbal approvals were obtained from all mothers before inclusion in
the study with assuring the anonymity, confidentiality and the right
of withdrawing from the study at any time without giving any reason.Pilot study:
A pilot study was conducted for 10% (158) of the study subjects
to assess the constructed tools for its simplicity, applicability and
time required to fulfill the tools. Omissions or additions of certain
items were done. It took about one month from the beginning of
December 2014 to the end of January 2015. Those who shared in the
pilot were excluded later from the study sample.
Field work:
The actual field work started from the 1st February 2015 up to the
end of October 2015 for data collection. The data was collected by
the researcher and a team of nurses in the previously mentioned
settings after receiving training session in which the researcher
explained the purpose of the study and how to use the previously
mentioned tools to collect data, then the nurses attended three
mothers’ interviews with the researcher and finally, the nurses
implemented three trial interviews under supervision of the
researcher. The researcher was available 3 days/week in each
selected MCH care center by rotation till the required number of the
sample was completed. The researcher started the work by
introducing herself to the mothers and then informing them about the
purpose of study. After that, the mothers were interviewed for 30-45
minutes in small groups of five mothers in each one with the rate of
2-3 groups per day.The results of the study can be summarized as the following:
o In relation to the studied mothers’ characteristics, it was found
that 59.1% of them were in the age group of 20 < 30, 54.2%
resided in the urban areas, 90.1% were housewives, 96.8% were
married, 47.6% were secondarily educated and 98.3% of them
had family monthly income of < 1000 LE.
o Regarding the studied infants’ characteristics, it was found that
49.9% of them lied in the age group of 6 ≤ 12 months, 50.9%
were males, 31.1% ranked as the first infants in their families.
o Total maternal knowledge about their infants’ care was
unsatisfactory among 89.3% of the studied mothers.
o Maternal reported practices in infant bathing and oral & dental
care were unsatisfactory among 53.5% and 93.4% of the studied
mothers respectively while maternal practices in umbilical cord
care and diaper care were satisfactory among 76.9% and 71.3% of
the mothers respectively.
o Maternal reported practices in breastfeeding among 63.5% of the
studied mothers were unsatisfactory while maternal practices in
bottle feeding were satisfactory among 74% of the studied
mothers.
o Maternal reported practices in complementary foods introducing
among 78.4% of the interviewed mothers were unsatisfactory.
o Maternal reported practices in managing post-vaccination
problems were satisfactory among 81% of the studied mothers.
o Maternal reported practices in promoting their infants’ safety were
unsatisfactory among 80.9% of the studied mothers.o Maternal reported practices in infants’ minor health problems
management were satisfactory among 64.8% of the studied
mothers.
o Total maternal reported practices in care of their infants were
unsatisfactory among 82% of the studied mothers.
o There were statistical significant differences between both total
level of mothers’ knowledge and mothers’ practices about their
infants’ care and maternal education, residency, infant’s age and
infant’s rank.
o A strong positive linear relation was observed between total
maternal reported practices and their knowledge regarding their
infants’ care.
In the light of the present study findings, it can be concluded that:
Most of the studied sample at El-Fayoum Governorate had
unsatisfactory level of knowledge and practices regarding their
infants’ care in the areas of infant’s growth & development, infant’s
bathing, oral hygiene, umbilical cord stump care, diaper care, infant’s
feeding, immunizations, safety promotion & common infant’s health
problems management. Also, the total level of maternal practices was
more unsatisfactory among mothers at the age group 40 ≤ 45 years
old, illiterate, housewives & rural resided mothers, mothers having
female infants at the age group 6 ≤ 12 months old and mothers whose
infants ranked the fourth and the fifth in the family.from the previous findings, the following recommendations were
suggested:
o Increasing maternal knowledge and improving their practices
regarding infants’ care by developing comprehensive health
educational programs based on their actual need assessment.
o Arranging continuous awareness-raising campaigns about infants’
safety promotion in MCH care centers and home visits for
teaching about the potential dangers that infants may face.
o Establishing postnatal home visits programs to provide a wide
area for mothers to discuss their concerns regarding their infants’
care with nurses who can explain all aspects of infant’s care
leading to widely dissemination of proper infants’ care knowledge
and practices in the community.
o The findings obtained in the current study should be disseminated
among the pediatric nurses for optimizing maternal infants’ care
practices.
o Further researches should be conducted to investigate the
determinants of proper infants’ care practices and acting on
developing of those factors to improve the bad infants’ care practices
in the community.
o Further researches should assess the household traditional infant’s
care practices to develop culturally sensitive programs that
facilitate the change in infant’s care practices.