Introduction: Involving the parents in caring of premature newborns is one of the best and effective manners for preventing the hospitalization of premature newborns. The present study aimed to evaluate the effect of mother – baby skin- to- skin care on neonatal outcomes in preterm infants, in Kosar hospital.
Methods: This was a descriptive comparative study conducted on 400 nulliparous women with premature infants admitted to neonatal intensive care unit of Kosar hospital during April 2012 and March 2015. Sampling was performed via convenience sampling. Sample population divided into two groups, one of them 200, the kangaroo care and non- care groups. The data were obtained by a researcher prepared check list, including mother’s demographic characteristics and neonatal outcomes. Both descriptive and statistical analysis methods were applied. For analyzing the data, chi-square test, t-test, and logistic regression tests was applied (P <0.05).
Results: The results showed that neonatal outcomes such as birth weight, frequency of breastfeeding, length of hospitalization of infants, re-admission, needing incubator and oxygen aid, hospital acquired infections, jaundice and hypoglycemia were significantly lower in the intervention group (P<0.05). But the incidence of intraventricular hemorrhage and neonatal respiratory distress syndrome in participants between the two groups were not statistically significant (P >0.05). In the intervention group, the relationship between maternal variables and neonatal outcome was significant (P <0.05).
Conclusion: Mother – baby skin- to- skin care has a positive effect on neonatal outcomes. Thus, supporting and awareness of premature infants’ mothers in order to implement this type of care can reduce the neonatal complications. Moreover, it is effective in decreasing the treatment costs.
