Knowledge, Attitude, and Practice towards Retinopathy of Prematurity among Neonatal Intensive Care Nurses in Palestine رسالة ماجستير

Abstract

Background: Premature is birth before 37 weeks of gestation age. “Retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) is the cessation of normal eye development and subsequent abnormal vessel growth that occurs exclusively in premature infants”. Nurses have an important role in retinopathy of prematurity (ROP) prevention by increase their awareness. Previous studies have focused primarily on pediatricians the first study focused on nurses. Objective: The purpose of the current study was to assess the “Knowledge, attitude, and practice” towards ROP among neonatal intensive care nurses in West Bank, Palestine. Methods: A descriptive cross-sectional study. The study recruited two hundred and eighty-nine nurses who work at neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) nurses in government and private sector in West Bank, Palestine. A self-administered questionnaire developed by the researcher related to nurses’ knowledge, practice and attitude for ROP prevention, and treatment was utilized. Results: Among the 289 neonatal nurses, the study findings revealed that 48.1% of nurses had low knowledge level o; 78% of nurses had neutral level of attitudes; and 57.1% of nurses had fair level of practice regarding retinopathy of prematurity. Attitude, knowledge, and experience in neonate care were significant predictors for practice retinopathy of prematurity prevention (β = 0.572, 0.075, and 1.86) respectively VI Conclusion The study confirmed that high percentage of neonatal intensive care units nurses had low knowledge level, small percentage had positive attitude, but high percentage had fair level practice toward ROP