H. E EHIOROBO

The purpose of this study was to investigate the knowledge, attitudes and practices of post-natal care among nursing mothers in Ovia North-East Local Government Area of Edo State. To achieve the purpose of the study, four (4) research questions were raised and important literature related to post-natal care were clearly discussed. The descriptive research design was used for this study and the study population was estimated at 2188 nursing mothers who gave birth within the last 12 months in selected primary health care centers in Ovia North-East Local Government Area of Edo State. The multi stage sampling technique was used to select one hundred and sixty nine (169) from two (2) selected primary health care centers. This will give a total of 338 respondents representing the study. The instrument used for data collection was a combination of close-ended and Likertscale questionnaire with twenty (27) items. The questionnaire was validated by experts in maternal and child health and public health education. The Cronbach’s Alpha method was used to establish the reliability of the questionnaire. A total of one hundred and sixtynine (169) questionnaires were administered to the sample and data collected was analyzed using frequency, percentage mean, and standard deviation. Based on the data collected and analyzed, majority of nursing mothers aged 25-29 years who are married participated in the study. It was found out that, knowledge and attitudes of post-natal care among nursing mothers in Ovia North-East Local Government Area of Edo State are generally high and positive, factors preventing utilization of post- natal care and factors that promotes utilization of post- natal care is moderate. The gap between knowledge, attitudes, factors preventing utilization of post-natal care and factors that promotes utilization of post-natal care include barriers such as distance to the health facility, high cost of transportation services and negative attitude of health workers hinders adherence to post- natal care recommendations. It was therefore recommended that more primary health care centers should be built at easily accessible and less distant locations, subsidize transport or establish community transport schemes for nursing mothers in Ovia North-East Local Government Area and improve client- provider interaction through respectful maternity care.