Assessment of services on postpartum care in the plantation in a district in Sri Lanka ; An intervention study

Abstract

To assess the institutional post partum services, a sample of thirty one institutions and a sample of sixty postnatal ward staff in government and plantation institutions were selected. To assess the domiciliary post partum services two samples of midwives in the plantation sector were selected , a sample of midwives to whom a questionnaire was administered ( 44 and 42 pre -intervention stage and post -intervention stage respectively) and a sample for direct observation ( 20 and 16 in the pre-intervention and post- intervention stages, respectively). Data collection techniques used in this study comprised primary data collection, a questionnaire survey ( interviewer administered to plantation mothers and self administered to plantation midwives and postnatal ward staff), face-t- face interviews, group discussions with different categories, observations using checklists on institutions and plantation domiciliary care and triangulation. The interventions were broadly categorized in to three main areas: interventions to strengthen the institutional post partum services ; interventions to strengthen the domiciliary post partum services and interventions to strengthen the record keeping and reporting. Evaluation revealed significant improvements in postnatal care in the plantation sector. The percentage of postnatal mothers who consumed alcohol in the postnatal period was 63.2 percent significantly reduced to 19.5 percent (p 0.001).