Women's recall of delivery and neonatal care in Bangladesh and Malawi: a study of terms, concepts, and survey questions.

Abstract

This study was conducted for Save the Children US / Saving Newborn Lives (SNL) to provide information for use in the formulation of survey questions about giving birth immediate newborn care practices and postnatal care. The overall study objective was to provide guidance on what questions can be reasonably asked in a newborn care module prepared for use in large sample surveys. Of greatest interest were the events that followed delivery and that involved newborn care and postnatal care for the mother and the newborn. The research considered whether or not the events asked about were usually recalled by women whether or not the terms used were clear to respondents and whether the answers provided could be easily and unambiguously coded. We also reflected on how well respondents understood the questions about a ‘health check’ for themselves and the baby and on challenges in interpreting survey data collected on health checkups.