Evaluating Maternal Discharge Readiness in Kangaroo Mother Care

Abstract

Objective: To develop and apply a tool for measuring hospital discharge readiness of mothers practicing continuous kangaroo mother care (KMC) in a tertiary setting.

Methods: A 22-item questionnaire was adapted from an existing tool. After a pilot (n=20), the survey was administered to 200 mothers in the KMC unit, Kalafong Hospital, South Africa from 2017-2018. Two items which asked participants how confident and ready they felt overall were used to categorize women as 'ready' or 'less ready' for discharge.

Results: Most women (n=168, 88.0%) were categorized as ready for discharge. The mean (SD) score for all 22 questions was 9.4 (0.7). Women categorized as 'less ready' scored lower overall (mean difference: 1.3) and within all four questionnaire categories compared to women who were discharge ready (P<0.05).

Conclusions: Although most women in this study reported high levels of discharge readiness, further research is needed to see if results are comparable across settings.