Kangaroo mother care practice, knowledge, and perception among NICU nurses in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia

BACKGROUND: The imapct of Kangaroo Mother Care (KMC) in neonates is positively reported in the literature. However,several challenges hindered the wide-scale application of this practice. OBJECTIVES: To assess the levels of knowledge and competency of kangaroo mother care (KMC) among nurses and to identify the potential barriers to practice. METHODOLOGY: Structured web-based questionnaires were submitted to nurses working at neonatal intensive care units (NICUs) located in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia. The participants were asked to answer 23 questions distributed in four main domains, namely, demographic data, knowledge about KMC, practice levels, and barriers to KMC practice. For answers to the knowledge and barriers to practice domains, the mean scores (standard deviations) were calculated to present participants’ perceptions and beliefs from 1 (strongly disagree) to 5 (strongly agree). RESULTS: Two hundred nine NICU nurses responded (95.2% females, 89.5% working in a government hospital, 69.9% obtained a Bachelor’s degree). The majority of respondents perceived KMC as promoting maternal-infant bonding (4.47 ± 1.3) and enhancing successful breastfeeding (4.44 ± 0.9), while there were considerable uncertainties about KMC application in infants weighing < 1000 g (2.21 ± 1.2). Most of the nurses encouraged parents to perform KMC (92.8%) and provided sufficient information to optimize practice (90%). However, several barriers were apparent, including fear of accidental extubation, lack of time due to workload, familial reluctance to initiate KMC, and lack of privacy during KMC practice. CONCLUSION: There is reasonable knowledge among NICU nurses, and most of them are actively engaged in practice. There is an urgent need to address the reported barriers through the implementation of clear practice guidelines, provision of suitable educational programs, optimization of staff numbers, and financial support for the development of areas conducive to KMC.