Effect of structured preoperative teaching on mobility for women who have undergone elective cesarean section

The current practice of unstructured preoperative teaching for elective cesarean section patients' lacks instructions on mobility. The aim of this quasi experimental study was to determine if the independent variable (preoperative structured teaching) enabled patients to have higher scores for mobility (dependent variable) than the control group. Study subjects were 128 women equally divided into an experimental and control group. Findings: The experimental group performed more breathing, coughing and leg exercises through out the three days. They also turned more than the control group on the operative day and the first post operative day; sat up in bed more often on the operative day and ambulated to toilet more often on the second post operative day (p=<0.05). Conclusion: Although there was no difference for activities like standing, sitting on chair, walking and attending to the newborn, the null hypothesis was rejected based on scores for selective exercises daily, daily total scores as well as the three day cumulative scores. The hypothesis that there will be a difference in scores between patients who received structured preoperative teaching than those who did not receive structured preoperative teaching was accepted. The Demographic characteristics as well as past and present history did not influence the respondents' behaviors.