Effectiveness of Planned Teaching Programme on Knowledge Regarding Legal and Ethical Aspects in Obstetric Nursing among the Registered Nurses in Selected Govt. Hospitals at Shimla (H.P)

Background: Laws can be defined as “the principles and regulations established in a community by some authority and that is applicable to its people. Ethics distinguish between right and wrong. Objectives: (i) To assess the pre-existing knowledge of nurses regarding the legal and ethical aspects in obstetric nursing among registered nurses. (ii) To develop and administered the planned teaching programme regarding legal and ethical aspects in obstetric nursing among the registered nurses. (iii) To evaluate the effectiveness of planned teaching programme regarding legal and ethical aspects in obstetrical nursing among the registered nurses. (iv) To find out the association between pre-test knowledge score and post-test knowledge score with selected demographic variables. Methods and Materials: A pre-experimental study was conducted on 60 registered nurses were selected by convenience sampling technique. A self- structured knowledge questionnaire was used to collect data. Results: Present study revealed that in pre-test knowledge score maximum 39(65%) had moderate knowledge, whereas 15(25%) had adequate knowledge and 6(10%) had inadequate knowledge. In post-test knowledge score, maximum 34(56.7%) had adequate, 26(43.3%) had moderate knowledge and no participant, i.e. 0(0%) had inadequate knowledge. It was found that pre-test knowledge score was found to be significant with source of prior information regarding legal and ethical aspects in obstetric nursing (p = 0.000) at 0.05 level of significant. The post-test knowledge score was found to be significant with academic qualification (p = 0.035) at 0.05 level of significance and prior information regarding legal and ethical aspects in obstetric nursing (p = 0.020) at 0.05 level of significance. Conclusion: The mean post-test knowledge was higher than the mean pre-test knowledge score. Hence, it can be concluded that the planned teaching programme was effective.