Amany Ali Abd El-Salam¹, Abeer Mohammed El-Maghawery Eldeeb^2,, Asmaa Salah Eldin Mohamed Saleh³

Care of newborn depends on a lot of knowledge, skills and attitude of the mother. The ideal basic needs for any newborn include warmth, cleanliness and breast feeding. The neonatal period is the most vulnerable time for a child’s survival, in which face the highest risk of dying in their first month of life, so it can be prevented by proper and timely care of the newborn. Aim of the study: Evaluate the effect of instructional program on primipara mothers' knowledge regarding neonatal care. Research design: Quasi-experimental research design was used. Setting: The study was conducted at Maternal and Child Health Centers (Kebly & Bahary) at Shebin El-Kom-Menoufia Governorate, Egypt. Subjects and methods: A purposive sample of 100 primipara mothers who attended to maternal and child health center from June 2017 to September 2017. Results: The study was revealed statistical significant improvement of mothers' knowledge regarding to the neonatal care that were noticed at the post and follow-up test. Conclusion:. Based on the findings of the present study, the primipara mothers' knowledge were increased after the instructional program and also the mother’s had a good knowledge regarding neonatal care with statistical significant difference regarding the aspects of neonatal care knowledge in the post-test compared with the pre-test. Recommendations: Increasing the information and education regarding neonatal care at MCH centers for pregnant women especially primipara is required. Further researches recommended for increasing primipara mothers' awareness and enhancing their level of knowledge related to essential neonatal care which helps to reduce neonatal mortality rate.

instructional teaching program, primipara mothers' knowledge and neonatal care