Características

The chi-square test was carried out to test whether watching television has a significant association with newborn bathing practice. The results revealed that there is a significant difference in bathing practice by watching television, χ2 (1, N= 812) = 8.3, p< 0.01. Similarly, the chi-square test performed to test whether listening to radio has a significant association with

Figure 5.46b: Delayed newborn bathing practice according to receiving advice from a FCHV

47.6 12.7 0 20 40 60 80 100 Yes No

Receiving advice from FCHV on bathing

P e rc e n t o f d e la y e d b a th in g

Figure 5.46a: Women receiving advice from a FCHV on newborn bathing among the women

meeting a FCHV and demonstrating delayed newborn bathing practice

No

47.3% Yes

52.7%

N=93

newborn bathing practice also found a significant difference in bathing practice by listening to radio χ2 (1, N= 812) = 5.5, p< 0.05.

Figure 5.47a shows the proportion of women who were exposed to media among the women who demonstrated good newborn bathing. It was found that 10.4% of the women who bathed their newborn after 24 hours of birth watched television at least once a week while a majority (89.6%) did not watch television at least once a week. Among those women who bathed their newborn baby after 24 hours of birth, 70.4% also listened to radio at least once a week while the remaining 29.6% did not listen to radio at least once a week.

Figure 5.47b shows that among those women who watched television at least once a week, one- third (32.6%) bathed their baby after 24 hours of birth compared to 15.7% among those women who did not watch television at least once a week. With respect to listening to radio, one-fifth

Figure 5.47b: Delayed newborn bathing practice according to exposure to media

32.6 19.1 _12.7 15.7 0 20 40 60 80 100

Watched television at least once a week

Listened to radio at least once a week Exposure to media P e rc e n ta g e o f d e la y e d b a th in g Yes No

Watched television at least once a week

No 89.6%

Yes 10.4%

Listened to radio at least once a week

Yes 70.4% No

29.6%

Figure 5.47a: Exposure to media among women demonstrating delayed newborn bathing practice

(19.1%) of those who listened to radio at least weekly bathed their baby only after 24 hours of birth compared to 12.7% among those who did not listen to radio at least weekly.

5.5 Conclusions

The total sample of the study was 815 married women who delivered a living baby at home between February 2008 and February 2009 in the VDCs of Sindhuli district of Nepal. The characteristics of the sample women showed that three-quarters were in the prime childbearing age, two-thirds belonged to the disadvantaged indigenous caste/ethnic group and seven out of ten were uneducated. Their uptake of ANC and delivery services from SBAs was poor and most of them had limited knowledge of newborn care issues. Of the three good newborn care practices, the prevalence of safe cord cutting was highest and the prevalence of delayed bathing was lowest among the total sample population.

Out of the 815 sample women data of 803, 810, and 812 women were analysed to examine the distribution of safe cord cutting, early breastfeeding, and delayed bathing practices respectively. The results reveal that compared to early breastfeeding (46.7%) and delayed bathing (16.6%) safe cord cutting (70.7%) was most commonly demonstrated in the study areas. With regards to demographic and economic characteristics, good newborn care practices were found to be mostly demonstrated by the women who were in the prime childbearing age group and those women who belonged to the fourth and the highest wealth quintiles and higher level of education indicating that there are likely associations of age, SES and education with good newborn care practices. The chi-square test results also confirmed that newborn care practices are significantly related to age, SES, and education. With respect to ethnicity, the findings were different for specific newborn care practices. Good breastfeeding practice was higher among the disadvantaged indigenous and ‘other’ caste/ethnic groups of women while safe cord cutting and delayed bathing were greater among upper caste/ethnic group women. The chi-square test also indicated a significant association of caste/ethnicity with the three newborn care practices.

One important finding of the analysis is the low coverage of SBAs for ANC and delivery services. Good newborn care practices were greatest among those women who used ANC services from SBAs compared to those who received them from other providers or did not receive them at all. The chi-square tests supported that there is a statistically significant association of ANC service use with newborn care practices. Though the coverage of birth

preparedness was high among the women who had good newborn care practices, the chi-square test result indicated significant differences in only the breastfeeding practice by birth preparation made during pregnancy. Between 30-40% of the women who had good newborn care practices did not meet a FCHV and 20-30% of women who had good newborn care practices did not meet a health worker during pregnancy. The majority of those who met FCHVs and health workers were not advised and counselled on specific newborn care issues.

A majority of the women who knew of early breastfeeding breastfed their newborn early and also a majority of the women who knew of delayed bathing bathed their baby later, which are quite expected findings. The chi-square test also confirmed that there is a significant association between mother’s knowledge and newborn care practices. Interestingly, findings also showed that a considerable proportion of women having correct knowledge of newborn care practices also did not demonstrate good newborn care practices. Listening to radio was more common than watching television among those women who demonstrated good newborn care practices.

The summary of cross-tabulation results for good newborn care practices with the independent variables is provided in Appendix A and B.

CHAPTER SIX