ABSTRACT
Background: The Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) aims to promote, protect and support optimal infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices among all women, irrespective of their employment status. Consequently the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH), a Baby Friendly Hospital, has provided free Crèche services since 1996 to enable working mothers breastfeed their babies while at work, as they resume after 4 months of maternity leave. Aims: To appraise attendance and use of the Crèche by health workers for the promotion, protection and support of breastfeeding at the UPTH. Study Design: Retrospective study. Place and Duration of Study: Department of Paediatrics, UPTH, Nigeria. Methodology: Personal data and data on Crèche attendance were extracted from the Registers of children cared for at the Crèche between November 2006 and October 2016, entered into Excel Spreadsheet and analysed with SPSS version 20. Simple statistics were used to analyse and present data. Results: One thousand and sixty-two children utilised the Crèche during the 10 years review period with total of 10,490 attendances. The children consisted of 604(57%) males and 458(43%) females, aged 6 weeks to 48 months (mean-6.44±2.54 months). An average of 93.6 children were cared for each month, with attendance showing a declining trend and they spent 2 to 9.5(mean-4.68) hours daily. The children attended the Crèche for 1 to 22(mean-7.35) days each month, while 32% of them attended only 1-3 days a month. Mothers from all clinical and non-clinical departments utilised the Crèche with nurses constituting 37%. Conclusion: Utilisation of the Crèche services was sub-optimal. Its provision alone is insufficient to promote and support optimal IYCF practices among working women. User education and support for optimal IYCF practices are required. Access to Crèche services in all shifts and on all days should be guaranteed. Improved record keeping is required.
ABSTRACT
Background:Sexuality education is the process of acquiring information and forming attitudes and beliefs about sex; sexual identity; relationships and intimacy. It develops young people's skills so that they make informed choices about their behaviour; and feel confident and competent about acting on these choices. It also equips children to face developmental challenges and empowers them against the ills of abuse; exploitation; unwanted pregnancies amongst others. Mothers who are the primary caregivers should be well informed about sexuality issues. The objective of the study is to determine mothers' perception of sexuality education in children; in PortHarcourt. Methodology:A structured; anonymous and selfadministered questionnaire; used as instrument for data collection; was distributed amongst a convenient sample of women attending a Christian women's convention in Port Harcourt. Results:One hundred and fifty eight women participated in the study. Most of them were married (80.4); and belonged to the 30-49 years age bracket. Seventy one (44.9) of the respondents had tertiary education. Over 80agreed that children needed sexuality education but only 15 women (9.5) had a good knowledge of the concept of sexuality education. One hundred and eleven (70.2) believed it was the responsibility of both parents to educate their children and over 70acknowledged that the home was the best place for such education. 64 (40.5) believed that 6-10 years was the ideal age for starting sex education while 49thought that the ideal age was 11-15 years. 65of respondents discussed sexuality issues with their children at least occasionally; the content mostly involved description of body parts and reproductive organs. The average age of menarche amongst respondents was 14.0. One hundred (63) of the women had prior knowledge of menstruation before menarche. About half of them had received information from their mothers. Conclusion:The study highlights the need for enlightenment of women on sexuality education to enable them empower their children against the ills of child abuse
Subject(s)
Health Education , Mothers , SexualityABSTRACT
Sexuality education is the process of acquiring information and forming attitudes and beliefs about sex; sexual identity; relationships and intimacy. It develops young people's skills so that they make informed choices about their behaviour; and feel confident and competent about acting on these choices. It also equips children to face developmental challenges and empowers them against the ills of abuse; exploitation; unwanted pregnancies amongst others. Mothers who are the primary caregivers should be well informed about sexuality issues. The objective of the study is to determine mothers' perception of sexuality education in children; in Port Harcourt.A structured; anonymous and selfadministered questionnaire; used as instrument for data collection; was distributed amongst a convenient sample of women attending a Christian women's convention in Port Harcourt.One hundred and fifty eight women participated in the study. Most of them were married (80.4); and belonged to the 30-49 years age bracket. Seventy one (44.9) of the respondents had tertiary education. Over 80agreed that children needed sexuality education but only 15 women (9.5) had a good knowledge of the concept of sexuality education. One hundred and eleven (70.2) believed it was the responsibility of both parents to educate their children and over 70acknowledged that the home was the best place for such education. 64 (40.5) believed that 6-10 years was the ideal age for starting sex education while 49thought that the ideal age was 11-15 years. 65of respondents discussed sexuality issues with their children at least occasionally; the content mostly involved description of body parts and reproductive organs. The average age of menarche amongst respondents was 14.0. One hundred (63) of the women had prior knowledge of menstruation before menarche. About half of them had received information from their mothers. The study highlights the need for enlightenment of women on sexuality education to enable them empower their children against the ills of child abuse
Subject(s)
Child , Mothers , Sex EducationABSTRACT
Background: Sexual abuse in children is a significant public health problem and represents the least reported but the most devastating major form of child abuse all over the world. Aim: To evaluate the knowledge and perception of child sexual abuse among Christian women in Port Harcourt. Methods: This study was conducted among women attending a Christian women convention. Using a structured; anonymous and self-administered questionnaire; data collected included bio data; awareness information; response and practices. Data was entered into a Microsoft Excel Spread sheet and analysed using descriptive statistics. Results: One hundred and fifty-eight women participated in the study of whom 127 (80.4) were married and 51 (32.3) belonged to the 30-39 years age bracket. Twenty-two (13.9) respondents had never heard about sexual abuse in children; whilst 70 of them (44.2) knew that under-five children can also be victims. Forty four percent of the respondents believed the abuser is not someone closely related to the child. In case of rape; seeking medical care will be the first line of action for 119 (75) respondents and only 55 (34.7) will report the case to the police. Unwanted pregnancy was the single most quoted consequence of child sexual abuse; shame and stigmatization the greatest challenges faced by the family. Conclusion: The study shows that mothers who should play a major role in the prevention of sexual abuse in children have poor knowledge about the topic. There is therefore need for awareness/enlightenment campaigns about child sexual abuse targeted at parents; especially mothers