Comparative Study of Knowledge of Urban and Rural Mothers about Neonatal Care

Objectives: The purpose of this study is to assess and compare the knowledge about the neonatal care among the mothers in urban and rural area in district Ajmer province of Rajasthan Materials and methods: Comparative randomized descriptive study was conducted among mothers who willingly gave consent to participate in the study. A structured questionnaire were framed and mothers were interviewed, the answers were recorded. To judge the knowledge score of the mothers closed ended questions having four alternatives were also framed. One mark was allocated for correct response. Results: Among 5800 deliveries, 400 mothers (205 mothers were Urban and 195 mothers were from Rural area) were randomly selected. Mothers with Antenatal check-up had knowledge score of 61% compared to 24% who had no regular antenatal checkup. Knowledge about “Exclusive Breastfeeding” was 84.39% and 68.20% urban mothers and rural mothers and regarding adequacy was 73.17% in Urban and 44.61% in rural mothers. Knowledge about Hygiene was 89.75% and 53.33% in Urban and rural mothers. Skin care and baby bath was 28.29% and 18.46% in Urban and Rural mothers respectively. Knowledge about danger signs was 81.95% and 60% in Urban and Rural mothers respectively. Knowledge regarding immunization at birth was 70.7% and 35.89% in Urban and Rural mothers respectively. Conclusions: Main factors affecting the knowledge score of the mothers about neonatal care were Educational status and Antenatal checkup. Knowledge about adequacy of breastfeeding, Immunization at birth, Danger signs, Temperature maintenance and hygiene was less in rural mothers as compared to urban mothers.

Breastfeeding Duration and Its Effective Factors in Mothers with Children Aged 30-36 Months in Kerman in 2020

Introduction: Complete cessation of breastfeeding (CCB) at the right time is as important as starting breastfeeding, as well as identifying the factors that affect the duration of breastfeeding, so that breastfeeding promotion programs focus on these causes, to increase mothers' ability and desire to breastfeed. This study aimed to determine the time of CCB and its related factors.Methods: This study was a descriptive-analytical and cross-sectional type. A total of 802 urban and rural mothers with children aged from 30 to 36 months completed the questionnaire. The validity and reliability of the questionnaire were confirmed by Cronbach's alpha of 85%. Data were analyzed using SPSS software version 16.Results: The mean time of breastfeeding was 19.23±7.09 and the median was 22-month-year. About 41% of children were breastfed until 24-month-year. There was a significant relationship between the time of cessation of breastfeeding with contraception, number of households, place of residence, and weight at 6-month-year at the level of 0.05.Conclusion: Duration of breastfeeding is influenced by some demographic and cultural factors. The timing of the CCB differs from the suggestions of the World Health Organization (WHO) and religious teachings. Useful interventions are needed to increase the duration of breastfeeding.

Mothers’ emotional expressivity in urban and rural societies: Salience and links with young adolescents’ emotional wellbeing and expressivity

This research aims to investigate the salience of mothers’ emotional expressivity and its links with adolescents’ emotional wellbeing and expressivity in an urban society endorsing more individualism and a rural society ascribing to more collectivism. By comparing Chinese urban (N = 283, M age = 14.13) and rural (N = 247, M age = 14.09) adolescents, this research found that urban mothers’ expression of positive-dominant and positive-submissive emotions (PD and PS) were more common while expression of negative-dominant (ND) emotions was less common than rural mothers’. PD and PS had significant links with urban and rural adolescents’ increased emotional expressivity and self-esteem, however, only significantly related to urban adolescents’ decreased depression but not with rural adolescents’. ND had significant links with both urban and rural adolescents’ expression of negative emotions, however, only significantly correlated with urban adolescents’ less level of self-esteem and rural adolescents’ more expression of positive emotions. No significant difference was found in the salience of urban and rural mothers’ expression of negative-submissive (NS) emotions, which positively related to both urban and rural adolescents’ depression and emotional expressivity. Moreover, we found that adolescents’ emotional wellbeing (i.e., self-esteem and depression) mediated the relationship between mothers’ emotional expressivity and adolescents’ expressivity in both societies. Overall, the study findings document that the salience of mothers’ emotional expressivity and its relations with adolescents’ emotional adjustment differ between urban and rural societies.

A Study of the Effect of Number of Births on the Disability Status of China's Elderly Women

Purpose Under the background of aging population, the disability of the elderly is more serious, and childbirth affects the health status of elder women. The aim of this paper was to examine the relationship between the number of births and the risk of maternal disability in later life. Methods Based on data from the Chinese Longitudinal Healthy Longevity Survey (CLHLS) in 2018, 4,686 elder women were selected as study population. The logistic regression analysis was conducted to estimate the effect of number of children and other fertility behaviours on the risk of disability and to test whether there were urban-rural differences and gender differences. Results A high number of births significantly reduced the risk of disability among elder women. For each additional birth, the odds ratio of maternal disability in later life decreased by 4.3%, especially elder women with fewer than five births. Heterogeneity analysis found that this effect was present in the urban areas, and that an increase in the number of births increased the probability of disability for both fathers and rural mothers, but this result was not significant. Further examination showed that later age at last birth and longer childbearing period both significantly reduced the probability of disability. Conclusions This paper found an association between early fertility behaviour and the risk of disability in later life. We need to promote urbanisation and to have children within the right limits, not too many, and improve relevant supporting measures to ensure the health of female elderly in later year.

Barriers to seeking timely treatment for severe childhood pneumonia in rural Bangladesh

ObjectiveDelays in seeking medical attention for childhood pneumonia may lead to increased morbidity and mortality. This study aimed at identifying the drivers of delayed seeking of treatment for severe childhood pneumonia in rural Bangladesh.MethodsWe conducted a formative study from June to September 2015 in one northern district of Bangladesh. In-depth interviews were conducted with 20 rural mothers of children under 5 years with moderate or severe pneumonia. We analysed the data thematically.ResultsWe found that mothers often failed to assess severity of pneumonia accurately due to lack of knowledge or misperception about symptoms of pneumonia. Several factors delayed timely steps that could lead to initiation of appropriate treatment. They included time lost in consultation with non-formal practitioners, social norms that required mothers to seek permission from male household heads (eg, husbands) before they could seek healthcare for their children, avoiding community-based public health centres due to their irregular schedules, lack of medical supplies, shortage of hospital beds and long distance of secondary or tertiary hospitals from households. Financial hardships and inability to identify a substitute caregiver for other children at home while the mother accompanied the sick child in hospital were other factors.ConclusionsThis study identified key social, economic and infrastructural factors that lead to delayed treatment for childhood pneumonia in the study district in rural Bangladesh. Interventions that inform mothers and empower women in the decision to seek healthcare, as well as improvement of infrastructure at the facility level could lead to improved behaviour in seeking and getting treatment of childhood pneumonia in rural Bangladesh.

Interpersonal Violence Around Pregnancy Experienced by Rural and Urban Canadian Women: Correlates and Selected Health Outcomes

Interpersonal violence around pregnancy is of increasing global public health concern affecting both women themselves and their children. The primary aim of this study is to explore and identify potential correlates of such violence and to examine maternal and birth outcomes subsequent to that violence in a nationally representative sample of urban and rural women in Canada. The data are from the Maternity Experiences Survey (MES), a Canadian population-based postcensus survey administered to 6,421 Canadian mothers in 2006. Survey participants were 15 years and older and had given birth to a singleton and continued to live with their infant at the time of the survey. The survey response rate was 78%. Multivariable logistic regression analyses were used in the analysis with adjustments made for confounding variables. The study findings indicated that living in an urban environment was associated with an increased risk of interpersonal violence experience around the time of pregnancy ( OR = 1.31, 95% CI: 1.03-1.66). In addition, being aboriginal, young, unmarried, economically disadvantaged, a nonimmigrant, and having more than four pregnancies, as well as cigarette smoking, alcohol drinking and drug use before the pregnancy were correlated with interpersonal violence around pregnancy. Maternal interpersonal violence experiences were also associated with postnatal depression and stressful life events among both urban and rural mothers. However, maternal interpersonal violence experiences were only associated with preterm birth among rural mothers but not among urban mothers. The present study highlights the need to implement effective interventions for women experiencing interpersonal violence around pregnancy due to its potential impact on maternal and newborn’s physical and mental health. Screening and intervention should be targeted high-risk women particularly those who are indigenous, young, unmarried, nonimmigrants, of lower socioeconomic status, and manifesting high risk health behaviors.

Armed Conflict and Child Weight in DR Congo

This paper investigates the extent to which armed conflict influences the weight of young children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Exploiting the variation across districts in exposure to armed conflict and the within-district variation in the timing of whether the child was exposed to armed conflict due to birth timing within a difference-in-differences framework, we detect adverse impacts of conflict exposure to child weight. Specifically, experiencing armed conflict makes children weigh less for their age and weigh less for their height by 0.20 and 0.24 standard deviations, respectively. Armed conflict also increases the probability of children being underweight and wasted by 4.7 and 2.7 percentage points, respectively. Our heterogeneity analyses reveal that children of disadvantaged backgrounds, i.e., those born to low-educated mothers, poor mothers, and rural mothers, tend to be disproportionately affected. Our study calls for effective measures to mitigate the detrimental repercussions of armed conflict.

“Rural mothers’ feelings of isolation when caring for a child chronic health condition: A phenomenological study”

Evidence indicates that people in rural settings may experience difficulties in accessing health services, mainly specialist services. Caring for a child with a chronic health condition in a rural environment can present these mothers’ challenges. This article reports one of four finding themes from a more extensive qualitative study on rural mothers’ experiences of providing care for a child with a chronic health condition. Using hermeneutic phenomenological methods, narrative accounts were collected from 17 rural mothers of children with a chronic health condition in 2018. Analysis revealed that these mothers experienced emotional and physical isolation resulting in an overall theme reported within this article: “ Alone in the Outback” : isolation, capturing rural mother’s feelings of isolation; comprising three subthemes: On the fringe; There is no shelter; and Choosing their own direction . Their experiences of caring highlighted a need for additional local carer support services and resources. Nurses can assist in supporting rural mothers through facilitating local social support networks enabling women to connect with others in similar caregiving situations. This study reports following the consolidated criteria for reporting qualitative research guidelines ( Tong et al., 2007 ).