Exploring content of home-based care education after caesarean section provided by Nurse Midwives in Maternity Units

Background: Caesarean section (CS) deliveries are increasing and mothers are commonly discharged home early to continue with care. At home, mothers should be knowledgeable about how to take care of themselves and their babies. Studies have reported non-uniform antenatal health education and existing postnatal guidelines merely provide information about home care after CS. Exploration of the content of post-CS will provide input to standard and comprehensive post-CS home care guidelines to be used by nurse-midwives in educating post-CS mothers. Objective: To explore the content of home-based care education after caesarean section provided by Nurse Midwives in Maternity Units in Dodoma, Tanzania. Methodology: An exploratory qualitative study using in-depth interviews was conducted with 14 nurse midwives working in the maternity unit and 11 post-CS mothers attending their post-natal clinic at Makole Health Centre. Qualitative content analysis was used to generate themes that describe information about care of mothers at home after hospital discharge, provided by nurse midwives. Results: The study found that information about nutrition, maternal and newborn hygiene and caesarean wound care at home were the main components of health education provided to post-CS mothers. However, non-uniform and contradicting instructions were provided to post-CS mothers. Conclusion: This study reported non-uniform and contradicting health information provided by nurse-midwives on home care after CS. Even though nurse midwives recognize the importance of providing health education to post-CS mothers, a standard and practical home care guideline should be developed to guide health education and care of post-CS mothers at home to promote recovery.