Document Type
Article
Department
School of Nursing and Midwifery, East Africa
Abstract
Introduction: Globally, maternal morbidity and mortality have increased during the COVID-19 pandemic. Given the high burden of maternal and neonatal mortality in Kenya prior to COVID-19, front line health workers, including nurse-midwives, must be competent to ensure continued quality maternal services. Knowledge and awareness of COVID-19 transmission influence nurse-midwives risk perception and ability to implement prevention strategies.
Objective: We examined nurse-midwives’ knowledge, attitudes, and preparedness in managing pregnant and postpartum women with COVID-19 in Kenya.
Methods: A cross-sectional online survey was conducted among 118 nurse-midwives between July 2020 and November 2020. A 31-item survey comprising 15 knowledge, 11 attitude, and five preparedness questions was administered using SurveyMonkey. A link to the survey was distributed among nurse-midwives via email. Multiple logistic regression analysis was used to assess associations between the variables. A p-value <.05 was considered statistically significant.
Results: Eighty-five participants were included in the final analysis (response rate 72%). Most participants were female (n = 69, 81.2%), 52.9% (n = 45) worked in labor wards, and 57.6% (n = 49) worked in rural hospitals. Overall, 71% (n = 57) of par- ticipants had sufficient knowledge about managing COVID-19 in pregnant and postpartum women. However, only 63% were willing to receive COVID-19 vaccination. Nurse-midwives working in urban areas were 3.7 times more likely to have positive attitudes than those in rural areas (odds ratio 3.724, 95% confidence interval 1.042–13.31; p = .043).
Conclusion: Nurse-midwives’ responses to the Kenyan government’s COVID-19 guidelines for managing and caring for pregnant women were inconsistent. Continued professional development for nurse-midwives is important to ensure they stay abreast of evolving COVID-19 guidelines for maternal health. Our findings also suggest vaccine hesitancy may be a hurdle for ongoing COVID-19 vaccination.
Publication (Name of Journal)
SAGE Open Nursing
Recommended Citation
Maina, R.,
Kimani, R.,
Orwa, J.,
Mutwiri, B.,
Nyariki, C. K.,
Shaibu, S.,
Fleming, V.
(2022). Knowledge, Attitudes, and Preparedness for Managing Pregnant and Postpartum Women with COVID-19 Among Nurse-Midwives in Kenya. SAGE Open Nursing, 8, 1-13.
Available at:
https://ecommons.aku.edu/eastafrica_fhs_sonam/425
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.