An Investigation of the Level of compliance with Standards in Family Performance in the Field of Infant Care and its Relationship with Some Factors in the Families Referring to Medical Clinics of Ardabil City

Abstract

Introduction and purpose: Infancy is one of the most sensitive life stages which needs accurate knowledge and presentation of careful cares. Since family is considered as a valuable element in presenting services to newborns, the present study aims to determine the level of compliance with standards in family performance in the field of infant care in the families referring to Medical Clinics of Ardabil City in 1395 (2016). Methodology: In this cross-sectional descriptive-analytical study, 132 families having infants attending in Clinics of Ardabil City selected by the access method were studied. Criteria to enter into the study include caring infant by family, healthiness of the infant from birth, lack of history of hospitalization during infancy and non-membership of parents as health staffs. Data were collected through author-made questionnaire which its validity was fulfilled using recommendations of 10 professional experts in this field and its reliability was fulfilled after doing an preliminary study and determining Cronbach’s alpha (ɑ = 0.80). Data were analyzed by SPSS Statistics 21. Findings: The average score for overall family performance in field of family’s baby caring, of the total score 270 is 224/053±0/5246. This means the overall family performance in the field of baby caring had been at a very low level. Of 132 studied samples, 60 persons (45 per cent) had female infants and 72 persons (55 per cent) had male infants. In fathers, the most frequency relates to self-employed persons (50.5 per cent) and the least frequency relates to unemployed persons (4.5 per cent). Also, results from mothers’ employment indicate that the most frequency relates to house-wives (90.9 per cent) and the least frequency relates to employees (9.1 per cent). Results indicate that by promotion of parents’ education, standards of baby caring increases, too. But employment variables in this context have not important roles. Discussion and conclusion: The level of compliance with standards from the families participated in the present research in the field of infant care was very good. The present study showed that the level of family performance in the field of standards in baby caring closely relates to some specifications of family and also some family characteristics are able to predict standards of infant care. Therefore, the more the level of specifications of family is promoted, the more standards of baby caring are increased.