Mothers' comprehension of terminology associated with the care of a newborn baby.

To determine mothers' level of comprehension of terminology used by health care providers when discussing the care of a newborn baby. Sixty patients on a postpartum unit in a general hospital who gave birth to healthy newborns were asked to define 56 terms related to the care of newborn babies that were commonly used by health care providers. Mothers' knowledge of terms was examined by level of education, number of children, previous experience caring for newborns, and age. Analyses of variance results revealed significant differences among mothers for age and level of education. Mothers who were 30 years or older and who had more than a high school education demonstrated the more overall knowledge of terms than younger mothers with less than a high school education. An individual needs assessment must be done for every mother who is a patient on a postpartum unit to determine their learning needs as well as their understanding of common terminology.