Knowledge and Practices of Post Cesarean Section Mothers Towards Self-Care After Delivery at Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital.

Abstract

Background: It is recommended to all mothers to undergo post-cesarean section self-care after delivery up to six weeks. However, many mothers return to Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital as a result of getting some complications related to cesarean section. The reasons why these mothers develop these complications are not clear and possible other practices performed by delivered mothers to solve their post-delivery challenges are not yet documented. Methods: The design of this study was a descriptive cross-sectional study design and a semi-structured questionnaire was used to collect quantitative data from the participants. Data were collected from 150 mothers admitted to the Maternity ward of Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital who formed the inclusion criteria and accepted to participate in the study. Data was captured using Microsoft excel and analyzed using Statistical Package for social sciences (SPSS). Results: The response rate in this study was 100%. The knowledge of post-cesarean section self-care among postpartum women at MRRH in Mbarara was poor as the majority of the participants 90(60%) reported to have never heard about Post Cesarean self-care while only 60 (40%) reported having ever heard about Post Cesarean self-care and no postpartum woman was fully aware of all the aspects of PCS and only 26% could talk of more than 2 aspects of the PCS. The findings of the study also revealed that 22% (33) of the postpartum women don't perform PCS at all. This shows a low practice of PCS among postpartum women. Conclusion and recommendations: Generally, in this study, the knowledge of post-cesarean section self-care among postpartum women at MRRH in Mbarara was poor, suggesting that these postpartum women are unaware of the value of this personal health promotion tool.

Prevalence and Risk Factors for Caesarean Section Delivery Following Labour Induction at Mbarara Regional Referral Hospital

“…In this study, the most common indication for induction was post-term pregnancy which was in consistent with other studies [26]: [27]: [25]. Induction in post-term pregnancy compared to prenatal survival rate and expectant treatment may be associated with a decrease in prenatal mortality rate [25].…”

“…This difference could be due to type of induction. We used oxytocin for the majority of patients in our study since it is was a routine medication in our center, whereas; prostaglandin E2 were used for 86.7% of the cases in Al Shaikh et al study (2011) Oxytocin is used as a preferred method for induction of labor in Latin America [25]. More use of oxytocin in our center is because of its availability which is not associated with cervical status.…”

An integrative review of home care recommendations for women after caesarean section

“…Most mothers in Sub‐Saharan countries lack knowledge on post‐CS exercise to enhance their healing. A study conducted in Uganda at Mbarara Referral Hospital on assessing knowledge and practices of post‐CS mothers towards self‐care after delivery found only 21.3% of the study population had knowledge about post‐CS exercise (Atuhaire, 2021 ). Similar results were found in South Africa at a tertiary hospital where 32% of study participants had knowledge about post‐CS exercise, and among those only 8% practised post‐CS exercises (Mbombi et al., 2017 ).…”

“…Consequently, mothers in many settings receive little information about home care practices after CS (Campa, 2020 ), despite the fact that many mothers are discharged early from postnatal wards to create space for new delivery mothers (Atuhaire, 2021 ). This evidence emphasizes the need to guide the care of mothers at home after CS to prevent SSI and promote full recovery; especially in Tanzania (Mdoe et al., 2023 ) where home visit by healthcare personnel to assess the progress of recovery is not routinely done after hospital discharge (Campa, 2020 ).…”

Effect of Wound Care Guidelines on Women's Knowledge, Beliefs, and Practices Regarding Cesarean Section Wound Healing

“…Globally, the prevalence of CS is approximately 18.5%, ranging from 6 to 27.2%. The average rate of CS in North Africa is 27.8% (Betran et al, 2016), with a high rate in Egypt (52%). Cesarean section is considered the most important risk factor for postpartum maternal infection (Abdelraheim et al, 2019).…”