Attitude of the health team to the infant home care plan during the COVID-19 pandemic: A cross-sectional study.

Abstract

Background: Maintaining and improving infant health and continuing care at home are very important for the health system. According to the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) pandemic and its effects on the health system capacity and medical staff's physical-mental health, this study investigated the health staff's attitude on the implementation of an infant home care plan.

Materials and methods: This descriptive-analytical cross-sectional study was conducted on 130 nurses, midwives, and doctors working in the newborn care department in Isfahan health-therapeutic centers, with at least 6 months of work experience. The samples were selected by random multistage method and completed the researcher-made 5-point Likert questionnaire with 25 items and two areas of education support and security safety. The total score of this questionnaire varied from 25 to 125, and obtaining a score equal to or greater than 91 meant that people had a favorable opinion about home care for babies. The reliability of the questionnaire was reported by Cronbach's α of 0.79, and content validity ratio (CVR) and content validity index (CVI) scores of 0.88-0.99 and 0.79-0.1, respectively. Data analysis was performed using the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences version 18.0 (SPSS) (Chicago, USA) and analysis of descriptive statistics, Chi-square, and Pearson correlation tests at a 0.05 significance level.

Results: The mean score of medical staff's attitude was obtained at 77.59 ± 11.71 and the security-safety and education-support domains scores were 41.3 ± 6.34 and 36.29 ± 6.11, respectively. In addition, a significant inverted relationship was observed between the mean score of medical staffs"attitude with age and the number of shifts.

Conclusion: According to the results, the medical staff's attitude about the infant home care program is neutral, and designing a professional educational period, considering economic preparations and responsibility assurance is essential for creating confidence and acceptance of the infant home care program by the medical staff.