Gaps in the knowledge and skills of Portuguese mothers associated with newborn health care.
Alexandrina Maria Ramos Cardoso, Heimar de Fátima Marín
PMID 29742269WHAT IT FOUND
Mothers showed gaps in newborn-care knowledge and skills, especially Guthrie testing, immunization, warning signs, weight, sleep and oral hygiene.
Nurses should assess learning needs before planning parent education.
Key findings
01Mothers showed gaps in knowledge and skills across all assessed newborn-care items, and average scores decreased from pregnancy through the fifth-sixth month.
02During pregnancy, 65% of mothers did not know when the Guthrie test should be performed, 62% did not know when to start immunization, and 55% were unaware of the characteristics of bowel elimination.
03Mothers who had other children, lived with the child's father, intended to breastfeed, sought advice from nurses or doctors during pregnancy, or attended parenting preparation classes tended to have more knowledge in the assessed periods.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Convenience sampling from three Portuguese health centers, with all approached mothers agreeing to participate, means the results may not apply to other parents, regions or countries. The study measured knowledge and characteristics at one point, so it cannot show that consulting nurses caused better knowledge or that gaps caused poor child outcomes. The authors state that the assessment criteria and nursing-diagnosis system used to score knowledge and skills still need further research.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the links between consulting nurses and more knowledge as proof that nurse advice improves parenting. This was a cross-sectional convenience survey, so it measured association, not cause.