ABSTRACT
Opjective: to show residential differentials in characteristics of postpartum women and their knowledge, attitudes and practices related to postnatal care and problems
Methods: a community-based study was carried out in the Wassat region of Alexandria in the year 2002. Two hundred urban and rural postpartum women were selected at random from birth registries in two health centers and visited at their homes
Results: Significant differences in demographic and maternity features of urban and rural women and in their use of maternity care as well as in their experiences of postnatal complications were observed. The study indicated that the median percent scores of women's knowledge about postnatal complications and services rendered during home visits were very low. Urban women were more knowledgeable about postpartum complications and services rendered during clinic check up. Rural women were more likely than their urban counterparts to rate seriousness of postnatal complications as not serious at all, and that both home visits and clinic check up are not important at all. Considering the factors related to women's knowledge, education of both urban and rural women played a significant positive role, while parity had a significant positive effect among urban ones. On the other hand, attending antenatal care and delivery assisted by midwives were significant positive factors among rural women. Attitudes of urban women played a significant role on utilization of postnatal maternity care
Conclusion: urban and rural postpartum women differ significantly in their characteristics, knowledge, attitudes and utilization of postnatal care. Several recommendations were forwarded mainly planning and implementing of an effective communication education intervention, raising the level of women's education, and promotion and improvement of attendance and quality of maternity care