Knowledge of newborn care and its applications of mothers from TWO di̇fferent cultures

Objective: This research has been conducted to determine the knowledge about the newborn care and applications of Turkish and Syrian mothers who are admitted to newborn care unit. Method: This research is descriptive. 105 Turkish and 105 Syrian mothers who are compatible to the inclusion criteria and appropriate to the sample selection of the Antalya Kepez State Hospital Newborn Care Unit participated in this study. Data is collected using the "Newborn and Family Introduction Form" and "Newborn Care Knowledge and Determining the Care Applications Form" that are developed according to the literature. 25th edition of SPSS is used in data evaluating. Results: 32,4% of Turkish mothers are secondary school and 23,8% are high school graduates. 24,8% of Syrian mothers are illiterate, 46,7% are primary school graduates and 76,2% have no knowledge of Turkish Language. 22,9% of the Turkish and 3,8% of the Syrian mothers received training about newborn care during their pregnancies. It is seen that mothers from both groups had insufficient knowledge about newborn care. As a mesure against neonatal jaundice 42,9% of Turkish and 29,5% of Syrian mothers cover their babies with yellow or red muslin, 17,1% of Turkish mothers lay their babies under the sun, 34,3% of Syrian mothers gave sugared water to babies and 21% dress them up in yellow clothes. In other traditional applications it is determined that 41% Turkish mothers are salting the baby, 12,4% are using kirklama; 37,1% of Syrian mothers are salting the baby, 21,9% are tinging with kohl on the eye and eyebrow of the baby and 16,2% are swaddling. Conclusion: It is determined that mothers who participated in this study lack the sufficient knowledge about newborn care and using traditional methods that are potentially harmfull to the baby such as salting the baby, tinging with kohl and tightly swaddling the baby. Key words: newborn care, traditional methods, culture, nurse.