Assessment of knowledge, attitude and practice of kangaroo mother care among postnatal women attending at Hiwot Fana Specialized University Hospital, Harar Town, Eastern Ethiopia

Abstract Background: - Kangaroo Mother Care is a powerful method to promote the health and well-being of Low Birth Weight babies. One of the main reasons that Low Birth Weight babies are at greater risk of illness and death is that they lack ability to control their body temperature. Globally 25 mil-lion infants (17%) are born with a low birth weight and most of these occur in low-income countries. Objective: - The aim this study is to assess knowledge, attitude and practice of Kangaroo mother care among mothers in Hiwot Fana comprehensive and specialized university hospital, Eastern Ethiopia. Method:- A cross-sectional study was employed on mothers admitted to post-natal ward in Hiwot Fana comprehensive and specialized university hospital from January 12/2021 to January 26/2021. Random sampling method was used to select the study participants. The data was collected using semi structured interview administered questionnaire by four female data collectors who have diploma in midwifery/nursing. After checking completeness, the collected data was entered in to SPSS version 22.0 for analysis. The result of analysis was presented by using frequencies, summary measures, texts, tables, Charts and graphs Result: - The overall study finding revealed that 34.1% mothers who participated in this study had good knowledge and 65.9% had poor knowledge towards KMC. About 18.9% respondent had positive attitude and 81.1% had negative attitude. In regards of practice, 18.4 % good and 81.6% had poor practice towards KMC. Conclusion and Recommendation:-This study shows that there is poor knowledge, negative attitude and poor practice of KMC. Giving awareness on KMC as well as practice, training were significantly associated with level of knowledge and practice. Moreover, orientation was statistically associated with attitude. Thus, intervention that should focus on creating awareness, training KMC and positive attitude creation are required to strengthen KMC knowledge, attitude and practice in postnatal mothers.