Document Type
Article
Department
School of Nursing and Midwifery, East Africa
Abstract
Background: Although there has been a favorable trend in the Infant Mortality Rate in India in the last decade, the country is still unlikely to meet the Millennium Development Goal #4. Of significance, there has been minimal improvement in the early neonatal mortality rate, which is an indicator of quality of perinatal care. In the efforts to address this aspect, a range of efforts and interventions have been considered. One such effort is in addressing and reducing hypothermia in neonates. Two low tech strategies, professional mummying/swaddling (PM/S) and ‘Kangaroo mother care’ (KMC), are seen as critical in the continuum of neonatal care.
Objective: This study compared the effects of KMC and professional mummying/swaddling (PM/S) on select neonatal outcomes (temperature and weight) in a postnatal hospital unit in Chennai India.
Methodology: This quasi-experimental study used a repeat measures time series approach monitoring weight and temperatures for neonates across the two interventions.
Results: Significant findings were found in the retention of temperature which indicated that the KMC intervention aligned with higher neonatal temperatures than the PM/S interventions. Further, neither maternal or neonate indicators were found to impact significantly on weight or temperature changes in either group.
Conclusions: KMC was found to provide a viable and meritous alternative to PM/S as a thermoregulatory strategy for full term neonates in a low resource setting. The study suggest that ongoing research will be necessary to ascertain the optimal approaches and potentials in both methods with such culturally diverse populations.
Publication ( Name of Journal)
International Journal of Caring Sciences
Recommended Citation
Sindhu, R.,
Ramachandran, P. V.,
Jothi, C. M.,
Susila, C.,
Petrucka, P.
(2015). Reducing early neonatal heat loss in low resourced context an Indian exemplar. International Journal of Caring Sciences, 8(1), 140-151.
Available at:
https://ecommons.aku.edu/eastafrica_fhs_sonam/30