Care of the premature newborn at home: Educational intervention using Dorothea Orem's self-care model Cuidados del recién nacido prematuro en casa: Intervención educativa aplicando el modelo de autocuidado de Dorothea Orem

Abstract

For the development of this study, there was a preliminary evaluation of the knowledge of a group of 20 mothers whose children were hospitalized in the newborn unit of the San José Hospital during the second semester of 2003. The inclusion criteria were: mothers whose children had passed the critical phase of the disease, mothers of newborns weighing between 1,200 and 2,000 g and mothers aged between 18 and 35 years. Subsequently, during the second semester of 2004, a group of 20 mothers was selected with the same inclusion criteria who were given an educational program on the care of the premature child at home. Once the program was developed, a comparison was made between the two groups. The present study is a cross-sectional comparison between an intervention group and a non-intervention group and aims to evaluate the influence of an educational program on premature child care at home, applying Dorothea Orem's self-care model. The comparison between the two groups was carried out by applying a difference test of proportions with a level of significance of 0.05. The results obtained confirmed the proposed hypothesis, so it is considered that the educational program was significant for the group of mothers in terms of obtaining knowledge.