Knowledge and practices of primary health care professionals on maternal blue

Object: The aim of this research is to determine of knowledge and practices of primary health care professionals on maternal blue. Materials and Methods: This is a descriptive type research and carried with health care professionals who work in Family Health Centers and Community Health Centers in Manisa city center (N=252). It's tried to reach entire universe without using any sample selection method (n= 214). Data of the research are collected by a survey form consisted from 37 questions that prepared according to the literature by researchers. Knowledge situation of health care professionals on maternity blue is assessed with 11 questions by giving one point for every right answer based on total knowledge score (totally 32 point). SPSS 15.00 program is used for assessing of data and evaluated by number, percentage distribution, MannWhitney U test and Kruskal Wallis test. Findings: 68,7 % of health care professionals that formed the research group are employed in Family Health Centers. 41,1 of them are Medical Doctors, 37,4 % of them are midwives, and 4,7 % of them are emergency medical technicians. 33,0 % of medical doctors and 93,7 midwives / nurses / EMT are women. It's determined that 19,3 % of medical doctors and 38,1 % of midwives / nurses / EMT have never heard about maternity blue; 27,3 % of medical doctors and 51,6 % of midwives / nurses / EMT were not educated on maternity blue. Average knowledge score of medical doctors is found as 18,70 ±6,28; midwives / nurses / EMT is found as 15,56 ±6,62. 63,2 % of medical doctors and 47,1 % of midwives / nurses / EMT have identified at least one mother who has experienced maternity blue in their entire career. Statistically significant difference is found on knowledge score of health care professionals with their profession, education and working on secondary health care services, heard about maternity blue and getting information on maternity blue (p<0,05). Results: While knowledge scores on maternity blue of Medical Doctors who are primary health care is above average; midwives / nurses /ATTs' is below average. Half of the midwives / nurses / ATTs who are responsible for postpartum monitoring are almost never heard about maternity blue. Therefore it's suggested that education need of health care professionals on maternity blue is required. Key Words: Maternity blue, Healthcare professionals, Primary Health Care.