Knowledge and Perception of Nurses towards Post Abortion Care Practices in Tier Three Health Facilities in Nairobi County-Kenya
Date
2021
Authors
Mainah, Jeremiah
Journal Title
Journal ISSN
Volume Title
Publisher
Kenyatta University
Abstract
One of the proximal indicators of a prosperous country is the well-being of women. Fifty percent of women who have unsafe abortion need medical attention. Despite this abortion remains a sensitive issue politically and religiously. This is aggravated by restrictive policies and limited resources especially among the frontline health care workers. Unsafe abortion is one of the six pillars of maternal and new-born care. Despite this, many women continue to suffer due to delay in accessing quality. The purpose of this study was to establish knowledge and perception of nurses towards post abortion care practices in tier three healthcare facilities in Nairobi County – Kenya. Specifically, the study objectives were to establish post abortion care practices among nurses, to describe influence of knowledge on involvement in post abortion care among nurses and to determine the perception of nurses towards post abortion care practices in tier three healthcare facilities at Nairobi County. A descriptive cross sectional survey was adopted both quantitative and qualitative methods were used to collect data among 242 nurses sampled from 616 nurses working in tier three hospitals within Nairobi County. Data was collected through stratified and simple random sampling then cleaned and analyzed using computer software SPPS version 24. The study applied both descriptive and inferential statistics to analyze data and test hypothesis. Data was summarized using descriptive statistics while for hypothesis testing the study applied inferential statistics. Most 69% of the respondents were female 42.1% aged between 51-60 years and had above 15 years of experience. Diploma was the highest academic qualification with 69.7% reporting this. The study-established majority 55% had no pre-service training on post abortion and post abortion care practice was low. The nurses‟ knowledge was average at 51.2% and had a very strong positive correlation r=0.918. The nurses‟ perception towards post abortion care practice was positive as indicated by composite mean of 2.81 and very strong positive correlation at r = 0.957. A significant association was declared when p-value was less than 0.05 and the null hypothesis was rejected. The p-value for Ho1 and Ho2 were 0.00. The study established a significant association between nurses‟ knowledge and post abortion care practices in tier three health facilities in Nairobi County. This means an increase in knowledge would lead to better post abortion care practices. It was therefore recommended that post abortion care should be incorporated as a core competency in pre-service training and the county government should consider continuous professional development for the serving nurses. This will strengthen the unsafe abortion pillar in maternal health; reduce morbidity and mortality due to unsafe abortion. Longitudinal studies should be carried out and should involve post abortion clients as well as other health care professionals.
Description
A Thesis Submitted in Partial Fulfilment of the Requirements for the Award of the Degree of Master of Public Health (Population and Reproductive Health) in the School of Public Health and Applied Human Sciences of Kenyatta University, August, 2021
Keywords
Knowledge and Perception, Nurses, Post Abortion Care Practices, Tier Three Health Facilities, Nairobi County, Kenya