The Effect of Kangaroo Mother Care Intervention on the Newborns Health Outcome Delivers at Sulaymaniyah Maternity Teaching Hospital

Abstract

Background and Objectives: Kangaroo mother care is an intervention for all newborns but especially for premature and low birth weight infants. The method involves babies being carried, usually by the mother, with skin-to-skin contact. It is the most achievable way for decreasing neonatal morbidity and mortality and is practical, inexpensive especially for developing countries. This study intended to assess the effect of kangaroo mother care on the newborns’ health outcome at Sulaymaniyah Maternity Teaching Hospital in Sulaymani-yah, Kurdistan Region, Iraq. Methods: A quasi-experimental, pre-post intervention study was conducted in the Neona-tal Intensive Care Unit and Baby Friend Unit of the hospital. One hundred newborn-mother pairs participated in the Kangaroo mother care procedure. The newborns were physiologically monitored before, in the middle and after the procedure. Result: The highest mean of newborn temperature was 37 ̊C after Kangaroo mother care in the visit three and the lowest mean temperature was 36.1 ̊C before Kangaroo mother care. There were statistically significant differences between the before, middle and after-procedure measurements in temperature, heart rate and respiratory rate (p-value <0.05) on all three visits, while there was no significant difference between the means of the oxy-gen saturation at all three visits (p-value was more than the standard alpha 0.05 F-test=0.961). There was a highly significant association between oxygen saturation and newborn birth weight and gestational age. Individual vital signs abnormalities were often corrected during the Kangaroo mother care sessions. Newborns involved in the procedure showed steady and statistically significant improvement in vital physiological parameters during three sessions on all three days. Conclusion: Majority of babies who received Kangaroo mother care showed significant im-provement in vital physiological parameters on all three days without using special equip-ment showing that this strategy can offer improved care to newborn infants. These find-ings support wider implementation of this strategy.