Author(s)

Domisiano Koome Impwii¹, Lucy Kivuti-Bitok², Anna Karani²

¹School of Nursing and Public Health, Chuka University, Chuka, Kenya.
²School of Nursing Sciences, University of Nairobi, Nairobi, Kenya.

Introduction: Maternal mortality remains a major health concern in Sub-Saharan Africa and Kenya in particular. Providing quality maternal health care has the potential of preventing over 75% of maternal deaths. The quality of maternal health care requires the utilization of maternal health care quality standards. Objectives: The objective of this study was to determine the nurse-midwives knowledge and attitude toward the use of maternal health care quality standards. Methodology: This study was a descriptive cross-sectional survey carried out at Embu and Meru teaching and referral hospitals in Kenya, between August and December 2021. Eighty-five nurse-midwives working in the maternity unit participated in the study. Data was collected using a self-administered semi-structured questionnaire and analyzed using SPSS version 27.0. Pearson’s correlation coefficient and Chi-square at Alpha level of 0.05 were used to test the relationship between the variables which were the nurse-midwives knowledge, attitude, and use of the quality standards. Result: Most (84.7%, n = 72) nurse-midwives were female and 44.7% (n = 38) were aged 20 - 29 years. Majority (64.7%, n = 55) were diploma holders and almost half (44.7%, n = 38) had practiced for 1 - 9 years. The average score for knowledge was 5.0 with 69.4% (n = 59) having a score of <7. Most nurse midwives (88.2%, n = 75) supported the use of the standards even though only 67.1% (n = 57) indicated that they use them. The support for the standards is significantly related to the gender of the respondents and their duration in maternity. There was no significant association between knowledge and use of maternal health care quality standards (X² = 0.433, r = -0.085). There is no association between support for the standards and their use (X² = 0.008). Knowledge and attitude toward the maternal health care quality standards are not significantly associated (X² = 0.156). Conclusion: The knowledge and attitude of the nurse-midwife neither influence each other nor do they influence the use of maternal health care quality standards.

Maternal Health Care, Quality, Standards, Nurse-Midwife, Kenya

Impwii, D. , Kivuti-Bitok, L. and Karani, A. (2022) Knowledge and Attitude of Nurse-Midwives Regarding Maternal Health Care Quality Standards in Two Regional Teaching and Referral Hospitals in Kenya. Open Journal of Obstetrics and Gynecology, 12, 914-926. doi: 10.4236/ojog.2022.129076.