International Journal of Advances in Nursing Management

The present study was intended to assess the Knowledge and Utilization of Maternal and Child Health Schemes among Postnatal Mothers in a Tertiary Care Hospital, Thiruvananthapuram. The primary objectives of the study were to assess the knowledge and to assess the utilization of maternal and child health schemes among postnatal mothers. The Secondary objectives were to find out the association between knowledge and demographic variables and to find out the association between knowledge and utilization of MCH schemes. The MCH schemes included in the study were JSSK, JSY and PMMVY. Nola Pender’s Health Promotion Model was adopted as conceptual framework. A quantitative research approach and cross-sectional analytical design were adopted for the study. The data was collected from 165 postnatal mothers admitted in the Tertiary Care Hospital by consecutive sampling technique. A semi structured questionnaire was used to collect the socio-demographic data and knowledge regarding MCH schemes. Utilization regarding MCH schemes were collected using checklist. The result showed that 1.2% of the participants had good knowledge, 30.3% had average and 68.5% had poor knowledge regarding MCH schemes but 67.9% had moderate utilization and 32.1% had low utilization of the MCH schemes. Regarding JSSK, 31.5% had good knowledge, 59.4% had average and 9.1% had poor knowledge and 78.8% had fully utilized and 21.2% had partially utilized the scheme. Regarding JSY, 4.2% had good knowledge, 51.5% had average and 44.2% had poor knowledge and utilization depicted 1.2% had fully utilized, 93.9% had partially utilized and 4.8% had not utilized the scheme. PMMVY shows, 15.2% had good knowledge, 49.1% had average and 35.8% had poor knowledge and 10.7% had fully utilized, 81% had partially utilized and 8.3% had not utilized the schemes. The study concluded that knowledge regarding MCH schemes had significant association with education of the postnatal mothers.