“The Effectiveness of Informational Booklet on Knowledge & Attitude Towards Human Milk Bank Among Postnatal Mothers in Selected Hospital”

Human milk banks play an important role in providing safe and nutritious breast milk to infants who are unable to receive milk directly from their mothers, especially premature and sick newborns. Adequate knowledge and a positive attitude among postnatal mothers are essential for the acceptance and utilization of human milk banking services. The present study was conducted to assess the effectiveness of an informational booklet on knowledge and attitude towards human milk banks among postnatal mothers in a selected hospital. METHODOLOGY: A quantitative research approach with a pre-experimental one-group pre- test–post-test design was adopted for the study. The study was conducted among 60 postnatal mothers selected through a non-probability convenient sampling technique from the postnatal ward of a selected hospital. The independent variable of the study was the informational booklet, and the dependent variables were the knowledge and attitude of postnatal mothers towards human milk banks. Data were collected using a structured knowledge questionnaire and a Likert attitude scale. Results :The findings of the study revealed that in the pre- test, 48.33% of postnatal mothers had poor knowledge and 35% had average knowledge regarding human milk banks. After the intervention, the post-test results showed significant improvement, with 63.33% of mothers demonstrating excellent knowledge and 36.67% showing good knowledge. The mean knowledge score increased from 6.87 to 15.87. Similarly, the attitude of mothers improved significantly from a pre-test mean score of 24.97 to a post- test mean score of 37.05, indicating a highly favourable attitude after receiving the informational booklet. Statistical analysis using the paired t-test showed highly significant results (p < 0.0001) for both knowledge and attitude. Conclusion: The study concluded that the informational booklet was highly effective in improving the knowledge and attitude of postnatal mothers towards human milk banks. Educational interventions such as informational booklets can be an effective strategy to increase awareness and promote acceptance of human milk banking, ultimately contributing to improved neonatal health outcomes.

Human Milk Bank, Postnatal Mothers, Knowledge, Attitude, Informational Booklet, Breast Milk Donation, Neonatal Care.

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