Educational Intervention on Practices of Postnatal Care among Healthcare Workers in Selected Primary Health Care Facilities in Osun State, Nigeria

Lack of provision for continuous training and evaluation of the healthcare providers on postnatal care guidelines is one of the major challenges contributing to the poor quality of postnatal care. Hence, this study assessed practice of healthcare workers on care of the new born, bathing and immunization of the new born, and care for mothers in selected primary health care centers in Osun State Nigeria. This study utilized two group pre-test – post-test quasi experimental design. Random sampling technique was used in recruiting 220 healthcare workers. Test paper on practices of healthcare workers on postnatal care was used for data collection. Data were collected over three months in three phases of pre-intervention, intervention and post- intervention. Descriptive statistics were used to answer the research objectives. A training package was used as an intervention to train the healthcare workers. The findings revealed that there was an increase in the practice of respondents on care of the new born pre intervention 84(76.4%), immediate post intervention 98(93.3%) and 3month post intervention 95(100%) among the experimental group. But the case is different among the control group, it was observed that there is no significant increase in practice pre intervention 75(64.5%), immediate post intervention 80(76.2%) and 3months post intervention 82(91.1%). There was significant increase in the practice of bathing and immunization of the new born in the experimental group pre intervention 77(70.0%), immediate post intervention 91(86.7%) and 3month post intervention 94(98.9%). It was also revealed that there was a significant increase in the practice of respondents among the experimental group on postnatal care of the mother pre intervention 82(74.5%), immediate post intervention 91(86.7%) and 3month post intervention 95(100%) while in the control group there is no remarkable increase in practice among the respondents. It is therefore recommended that healthcare workers should be adequately trained on inculcating WHO guidelines on postnatal care in their practice so as to ensure successful postnatal care periods for both mother and baby during postnatal period.

Keywords: Educational Intervention, Practice, Postnatal Care, Healthcare Workers,