Influence of Indigenous Post-Natal Practices on Lactating Mothersandrsquo; Emotional Stability in Kano State, Nigeria

Abstract

Inappropriate post-natal behavior is not only linked to depression, physical problems, and poorer maternal mood and higher levels of anxiety in mothers and infant’s nutrition but also have significant and far-reaching effects on cognition, behavior, and mental health of children. Hence, the study investigated the influence of indigenous post natal practices on lactating mothers’ emotional stability in Municipal Local Government Area of Kano State Nigeria. Descriptive survey research design was adopted for the study. The population of the study comprised all lactating mothers who are within the post-natal period in Municipal Local Government Area of Kano State. The sample consisted of 220 lactating mothers who were selected through purposive sampling from the 11 maternity centers in Municipal Local Government Area of Kano State, Nigeria. A 28-item instrument developed by researchers titled ‘Indigenous Post Natal Practices Questionnaire’ (IPNPQ) and Lactating Mother’s Emotional Stability Questionnaire (LMESQ) with 20 items were used for data collection. The reliability of IPNPQ and LMESQ were confirmed through test re-test using Pearson’s Product Moment Correlation (PPMC). The reliability scores for IPNPQ are 0.77 and LMESQ 0.74 respectively. Research Questions were answered using frequency counts, mean and percentages while the formulated hypotheses were tested using Linear Regression and Analysis of Variance (ANOVA) all at 0.05 at level of significance. The result of the findings revealed that indigenous post-natal practices have positive influence on lactating mothers. The levels of emotional and psychological stability of lactating mothers were high. The result also indicated that Post-natal Practices have significant influence on emotional stability of lactating mothers. However, there is no significant influence of religious affiliation (F (2; 217)=1.797, P>0.05) and Educational background (F (10; 209)=1.372, P>0.05) of lactating mothers on indigenous post-natal practices. Based on these findings, the study concluded that Indigenous post-natal practices have high influence on lactating mothers’ emotional stability. The study therefore, recommended among others that health department should devise strategies to ensure that there is teamwork between the indigenous and Western postnatal care providers in order to incorporate beneficial indigenous post-natal practices. Some practices like hot ritual birth, confinement in heated room advocated by elders and traditional midwives (Ungozoma) need to be jettisoned by lactating mothers as these affect their emotional stability.