By Akintoye Mopelola
The major purpose of the study was to develop a maternal and child
health (MCH) education programme for expectant and nursing mothers in
Federal Capital Territory (FCT), Nigeria. Specifically the study determined:
(1) objectives of maternal and child health education programme for
expectant and nursing mothers; (2) content of MCH education programme;
(3) strategies for imparting MCH education to expectant and nursing
mothers; (4) evaluation activities required in MCH education programme for
expectant and nursing mothers; (5) facilities for delivering MCH education
programme for expectant and nursing mothers; (6) packaging and
management of MCH education programme for expectant and nursing
b
mothers. Six research questions and four hypotheses guided the study.
The study employed survey and instrumentation research designs. The
population of the study consisted nurses employed by the health dgpartment
of the Federal Capital Developrnent Authority (FCDA), working in the
government owned health institutions and the nurse tutors in the FCT School
'of Nursing and Midwifery. Randotn sampling technique was/used to select
.
the nurses (428) used tor the study and the entire nurse tutors (39) ir! the
jrra
FCT School of Nursing and Mid~ifery~usefodr the study. Questionnaire
was used to collect data for the study. Data were analyzed using mean
scores and t-test analysis at .05 level of significance. The 'major findings
include: (1) nine objectives of MCH educatiori programme for expectant and
nursing mothers; which include: (i) women to acquire knowledge and skills
for preparation for childbirth, (ii) women to understand the importance of
taking immunization for themselves and their children; (2) 37 instructional
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- content of MCH-education prograrnme for expectant and nursing mothers,
such as: (i) immunization during pregnancy, (ii) nutrition diiriny pregnancy,
(iii) family planning tcchr~ic~~e(s3;) 12 strategies for implementing MCH
education for expectant and nursing mothers which include (i) using loca!
dialect to teach MCH education, (ii) the use of posters, video clips, handouts
as ir~structional materials; (4) four evaluation activities required for MCH education programme for expectant and nursing mothers such as: (i) using
traihed multigravida to train the primigravida, (li) asking the women
questions on what they have learnt; (5) four classes of facilities for
delivering MCH education programme; (6) chronological packaging and
management of MCH education programme, Based or1 the findings, four
recommendations were made, including;(l) !he FCDA goverr!ment should
provide well-equipped and staffed health centres; (2) the government and
NGOs should carry out enlightenment campaigns (especially in the rural
areas) on the importance of attending antenatal and postnatal clinics.