Knowledge of postnatal care among confinement ladies in Malaysia during COVID-19 pandemic: a pilot study

Introduction: Mothers and their newborn babies are vulnerable to illnesses and deaths not only during pregnancy and birth but also during postnatal period. Hiring a confinement lady during this period is believed to be beneficial since postpartum home care is crucial in preventing postpartum complications. Objective: This study aims to evaluate the knowledge of postnatal care among confinement ladies in Malaysia and assess the effectiveness of an intervention workshop. Methods: A quasi-experimental study was conducted among 65 confinement ladies residing in East Coast Malaysia. Among them, 36 ladies were purposely selected to participate in a workshop, while 29 ladies were selected using a snowball sampling method to be in the control group. A validated Malay translation of Knowledge on Postnatal Care for Mothers and Care of the Newborn Questionnaire was used. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS Statistics (Version 25). Multiple Logistic Regression was employed to determine factors associated with baseline knowledge. Repeated measure ANCOVA was used to measure the effectiveness of the intervention workshop