Birth and Emergency Preparedness and Associated Factors among Postnatal Mothers at Base Hospital, Balangoda

Abstract

Introduction Birth and emergency preparedness (BAEP) is a strategy which will reduce the three delays, concerned with maternal mortality. The comprehensive BAEP plan had been introduced to the Sri Lankan maternal care package since 2011. Assessing the effectiveness of this component was a timely concern. Objectives To describe the birth and emergency preparedness and associated factors among postnatal mothers at Base Hospital, Balangoda Methodology A descriptive cross sectional study was conducted among postnatal mothers who had delivered after completion of 37 weeks of amenorrhoea. 427 mothers who had delivered within that period were selected. Data collection was done using a pre tested interviewer administered questionnaire. Chi square test was used to test associations and a probability of less than 0.05 was considered as significant. Results Response rate was 93.9% (n=401). Majority of mothers were in the 25- 34 age group (n=245, 61.1%). Regarding utilization of antenatal care services, 84.3% (n=338) of mothers had registered for antenatal care before 12 weeks, 79.6% (n=319) had participated at antenatal classes and 89.3% (n=358) had received domiciliary care during antenatal period. The majority of the mothers (59.4%, n=238) were well prepared for birth and emergencies. Bivariate analysis was done and factors which showed a significant association with well preparedness for birth and emergencies were; ethnicity (p< 0.001), Buddhists (p<0.001), being married (p<0.05), having attained higher educational qualifications by both partners (p<0.01), received adequate social support (p<0.001), received domiciliary care from PHM (p<0.05) and participation at antenatal classes by mother (p<0.05). The written plan was complete only in 50.6% of mothers. Conclusions and/or Recommendations BAEP is a key area in the new maternal care package. The findings show that BAEP was satisfactory among the study participants, nevertheless the written plan in pregnancy record was inadequate, needing closer program monitoring.