Knowledge and Practice of Wound Care and Their Influence on Surgical Site Infection Among Post Caesarean Section Women in Dodoma: A Cross-Sectional Analytical Study

Background: Tanzania is experiencing an increasing rate of post-cesarean surgical site infections, which increases maternal morbidity and mortality. Poor wound care is reported to contribute to these infections. Yet, there is scanty research to inform the community about wound care practice among post-cesarean section women. This study attempts to address this gap by assessing the knowledge and practice of wound care and their influence on the occurrence of surgical site infections among post-cesarean section women in the Dodoma Region.

Methods: This was a hospital-based cross-sectional analytical study that was conducted from May 2020 to July 2020 in Dodoma Region. A simple random sampling procedure was employed to select 183 post-cesarean section women who were discharged within two weeks. An interviewer-administered questionnaire, observation, and laboratory investigation were employed to generate the data from the sample. Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS v.23) Software was used for data analysis.

Results: The age of research respondents ranged between 16 and 45 years with a mean (±SD) age 27.73± 7.25 years. Among the 183 respondents involved, 20.8% had developed post-cesarean surgical site infections. More than half of the respondents had inadequate knowledge of wound care (50.3%), and 48.6% had poor wound care practices. Knowledge had influence on wound care practice (AOR=3.363, 95%CI: 1.449-7.804; p-value=0.005). Those with poor wound care practices and those living in the houses floored with Earth/sand were four times more likely to have developed post-cesarean section surgical site infection (AOR:4.369,95%CI:1.351-14.125; P-value=0.014), [(AOR=4.328; 95%CI 1.113-16.837, P=0.035)] respectively.

Conclusion: There is a marked increase in SSI prevalence among post-CS women in Dodoma influenced by wound care practices and home environment conditions.