RV JOURNAL OF NURSING SCIENCES (RVJNS)
Volume 5 | Issue 2 | April - June 2026 | Pages: 10-14
Original Article
Urban–Rural Disparities in Maternal Newborn Care Practices: A Study from Government Hospitals in Davangere, Karnataka, India
1 Shini Raju Gouli, 2 Jannatbi L Iti, 3 Raju G.M, 4 Shilpa K, 5* Stephen John
Copyright (c)
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License
ABSTRACT
- Background: The blend of scientific and culture based practices in new born care has created a good bridge in elevating the health status of a newborn. Generally, the urban mothers follow scientific practice in newborn care than rural mothers who are bond to follow the traditional methods in practice of new born care. This study was planned to identify the differences in maternal new born care in urban and rural setting.
- Objectives: To assess the maternal new-born care practices among urban and rural mothers and To find the association between maternal new-born care practice scores and selected sociodemographic variables among urban and rural mothers
- Methods: The comparative-descriptive research design was adopted. on probability, Purposive sampling technique was used to select 150 mothers (75 urban & 75 rural) at primary health care centers, Chigateri (rural) and Government District Hospital (urban), respectively, Davangere district, Karnataka. Data related to maternal new born care practice was collected using pre-validated structured practice checklist. The correct response to the checklist awarded 01 score, giving a maximum practice score of 25. The obtained data was subjected to statistical analysis using SPSS.17.0 version.
- Results: The descriptive analysis revealed that the mean practice score of urban mothers was𝐱̄ =17.53 with mean percentage of 70% and the rural mothers was𝐱̄ =16.02 with mean percentage of 65%. Whereas in inferential analysis, the Chi square test(χ²) showed that there was no significant association between maternal new-born care practice scores and selected socio-demographic variables among urban and rural mothers at 5% level.
- Conclusion: Our study attempted to assess the maternal new born care practice like Rooming in, early and exclusive breast feeding followed by traditional practices among mothers and concluded that both urban and rural mothers lack clear knowledge regarding new born care practices and mixes both traditional method and scientific practices as evident in their practice routine. Therefore, rigorous training programme on maternal new born care practice can help to bridge the gap and promote scientific favorable practices.
References
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