Knowledge and practice of newborn care among pre-discharge mothers from postnatal wards in SPHMMC, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: Institutional based study

Abstract

ABSTRACT Background: Newborn care refers to the essential practices and routines needed to keep a baby healthy, safe, and thriving in the first 28 days of life and beyond. This includes feeding, health monitoring, hygiene, sleep, and bonding. One of the most serious public health issues globally today is neonatal mortality. 75% of neonatal mortality occurs in the first week of neonatal life. About four million deaths occur globally each year during the first four weeks of neonatal life. 99% of all neonatal deaths take place in LMIC (low- and middle-income countries), primarily in sub-Saharan Africa. Most of these neonatal mortalities take place at home that suggests that only few families are aware of the symptoms of neonatal sickness. Objective: To assess the Knowledge, practice and associated factors of newborn care among pre-discharge mothers from postnatal wards in SPHMMC, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia Methodology: A Hospital-based, cross-sectional study was conducted at St. Paul Hospital. The study involved all pre-discharge mothers in St. Paul Hospital from June to December 2025. After obtaining informed consent from each participant, data were collected using the Open Data Kit (ODK) mobile application and uploaded daily to the server. To maintain data confidentiality, two different user account (one for data collectors and the other is for Server) were used. Data was sent to the server on daily basis and its completeness was reviewed each day. Data was analyzed using SPSS version 26. Descriptive statistics used to describe the characteristics of study population and P. value less than 0.05 was considered significant. Results: About 56.19% and 46.29% of the study participants had good Knowledge and practice of newborn care among respectively. The odds of having good knowledge among Mothers within 26 34 age range is 1.6 times higher as compared with those under 25 years age (AOR: 1.6: 95% CI: (1.14-2.48)) and, the odds of having good knowledge among Government or Private employed mothers is 3.9 times higher as compared with Housewife, (AOR: 3.9, 95% CI:( 1.06-14.93)). The odds of having good practice of newborn care among Mothers who have good knowledge of NBC is 16.3 times higher comparing with those who have poor knowledge; (AOR: 16.3: 95% CI: (11.7-18.3)); and the odds of having good practice of newborn care among Mothers who had taken health education is 5.7 times higher compared with those who did not take health education; (AOR: 5.7(2.4-11.5) Conclusion: This study reveals a significant gap between knowledge and practice in newborn care among mothers. It establishes that maternal knowledge and formal health education are both crucial drivers of proper care practices. The findings further indicate that maternal age and formal employment status enhance knowledge levels, pointing to socioeconomic influences on health information access. Keywords: Newborn care, knowledge, practice