Kangaroo Mother Care in a Mozambican Perinatal ward : A Clinical Case study

Kangaroo mother care (KMC) was first introduced in Mozambiquein 1984. The aim of this study was to describe Mozambicanmothers’ experiences of going through admission, passing froman intensive care ward to a nursery ward with their prematurebaby, undergoing KMC training before early discharge. A clinicalcase study was conducted, involving naturalistic observationsand a face-to-face interview with 41 mothers participating tocomplete a questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and manifestcontent analysis were used in this study. The results show thatthe mothers were of low socio-economic standing and felt thatthey did not have enough information on KMC. The hierarchicalorganization within the hospital setting as well as communalisticbehaviours influenced the mothers’ support of KMC, includinginformation, communication, relationships and actions. Theconclusion is that there is an important challenge for trainedneonatal nurses to improve the guidelines for KMC and toempower mothers and their families to adopt KMC