Maternal Kangaroo care education program in the neonatal intensive care unit improved mothers' perceptions, knowledge, perceived barriers and stress relates to premature infant

AIM: To assess the effectiveness of the maternal kangaroo care education programme over 1 month and 3 months on the mother's perception, knowledge, perceived barriers and stress.

DESIGN: A quasi-experimental and longitudinal study was conducted among mothers with premature infants.

METHODS: Forty-eight mother-infant dyads were enrolled per arm in the control and experimental groups. The control group received standard routine care, while the experimental group received a maternal kangaroo care education program. Data were collected through self-administered Kangaroo Care Questionnaires. Chi-square, the general linear model and repeated measures ANOVA were used to analyse data.

RESULTS: The demographics are a majority of Malay mothers with multipara, a caesarean delivery with prematurity. At 3 months post-intervention, the experimental group reported a significant reduction in stress, a positive perception and good knowledge towards kangaroo care implementation. The mothers' perceived barriers towards kangaroo care significantly decreased after 3 months in the experimental group.