The effect of nurse-offered instruction to new mothers on their correct use of infant restraint devices

This nonexperimental study was conducted to determine if mothers who received nurse-offered postpartal instruction and demonstration of infant restraint devices restrain their infants correctly. Forty postpartum women from two hospitals participated in the study. Twenty subjects from Hospital A, received instruction and demonstration, whereas twenty subjects from Hospital B received no instruction. An observational checklist measured the correct use of infant restraint devices. A chi-square test revealed that there were no significant differences in the correct use of infant restraint devices between the two groups. The results of a chi-square test indicated a significant difference in the correct use of infant restraint devices among mothers according to marital status, race, socioeconomic and educational levels. A point biserial correlation indicated a significant relationship between the number of children in the family and the correct use of infant restraint devices.