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The impact of the Perinatal Education Programme on cognitive knowledge in midwives
1Department of Paediatrics and Child Health, University of Cape Town.
Objective:
To determine whether the Maternal Care and Newborn Care manuals from the Perinatal Education Programme significantly improves the cognitive knowledge of midwives.
Design:
Assessment of cognitive knowledge by means of multiple-choice testing. These tests were conducted before and after each of the 30 units of the Programme. In addition, a multiple-choice examination was arranged on completion of each of the two manuals.
Setting:
Level I, II and III hospitals and level I clinics in urban and rural areas of South Africa.
Participants:
One hundred and fourteen midwives from hospitals and clinics.
Intervention:
Maternal and Newborn Care manuals of the Perinatal Education Programme, studied at home and later discussed by the participants in groups every few weeks.
Main Outcomes Measured:
Number of participants who completed a manual, mean results of the pretests and post-tests, mean results of the final examination, and percentage of participants achieving 80% or more in the pretests, post-tests and final examination.
Results:
Mean pretest and post-test results for the Maternal Care manual were 65% and 85% respectively. Mean pretest and post-test results for the Newborn Care manual were 72% and 93% respectively. The mean result for the final examination for the Maternal Care manual was 90%, while the mean result for the Newborn Care manual was 95%. There was a significant improvement in cognitive knowledge when either manual was used.
Conclusion:
The cognitive knowledge of both maternal and newborn care can be significantly improved when midwives use the Perinatal Education Programme in an outreach, co-operative learning course.