The Association Between Maternity Waiting Home Use and Maternal-Newborn Knowledge: Latent Class Analysis

Background and Purpose: An exploratory latent class analysis (LCA) was performed assessing the association between maternity waiting home (MWH) use and maternalnewborn care knowledge. Methods: A two-group comparison design using a face-to-face interview (n = 250) was conducted to understand if MWH use was associated with greater maternal knowledge of newborn care. Results: High levels of maternal knowledge of newborn care were associated with MWH use. Mothers with low levels of knowledge were less likely to use an MWH prior to delivery and more likely to have fewer pregnancies, attend less than four antenatal care (ANC) visits, and receive no education about newborn health problems during ANC. Conclusions: Nurses need to target younger, primigravida mothers attending fewer ANC visits with educational opportunities while advocating for expansion of health education at MWHs to potentiate long-term benefits for improved maternal-newborn health and delivery outcomes.

Automated summary

The study found a positive association between high levels of maternal-newborn care knowledge and the use of maternity waiting homes (MWH). Mothers with low knowledge levels were less likely to use MWH and were more likely to have fewer antenatal care visits and pregnancies.