Abstract
This study was conducted to investigate the effect of breastfeeding education experience on knowledge, control beliefs, and future intention toward breastfeeding to consider the needs of breastfeeding education program of university students. The breastfeeding knowledge, control beliefs and related habits of 445 male and female college students were evaluated between September 1, 2011 to April 30, 2012. Data were collected from self-administered questionnaires and analyzed using SPSS for Window V.17.0. χ2-test, t-test and ANOVA were used for the calculation of differences between groups. The percentage of students who intended to breastfeed their baby was 80.7% (male: 73.6%, female: 84.2%). Only 21.6% of students experienced breastfeeding education. Students planned to get information related to breastfeeding from their mothers (32.4%), breastfeeding experts (23.8%) and Medical doctors & nurses (10.6%). breastfeeding education group showed higher knowledge level (14.46 vs 10.56) and control beliefs (3.48 vs 3.16) to breastfeeding than non-education group (p < 0.001). General attitude toward breastfeeding was similar between groups; the specific intention to breastfeed for 6 months was higher in the education group (83.3% vs 58.2%) (p < 0.01). Percentage of students who gave correct answers to knowledge questions related to breastfeeding was also higher in the breastfeeding education group than non-education group (72.3% vs 52.8%). Among 20 questions, only 2 questions showed no significant differences between the groups. These findings suggested that breastfeeding education was effective in encouraging or improving breastfeeding practices.
References
1. Callen J, Pinelli J. Incidence and duration of breastfeeding for term infants in Canada, United States, Europe, and Australia: a literature review. Birth. 2004; 31(4):285–292.
2. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Breastfeeding among U.S. children born 2000-2009, CDC national immunization survey. 2013. cited 2013 June 24. Available from http://www.cdc.gov/breastfeeding/data/NIS_data/index.htm.
3. Cernadas JM, Noceda G, Barrera L, Martinez AM, Garsd A. Maternal and perinatal factors influencing the duration of exclusive breastfeeding during the first 6months of life. J Hum Lact. 2003; 19(2):136–144.
4. Chin LY, Amir LH. Survey of patient satisfaction with the breast feeding education and support services of the royal women's hospital, Melbourne. BMC Health Serv Res. 2008; 8:83.
5. Choi KS. A study on the future plans for infant feeding practice and its associated factors among university students. Korean J Community Nutr. 2003; 8(2):240–249.
6. Choi KS, Lee HJ. A study on knowledges and attitudes about breast milk feeding and needs for breast milk feeding education among high school students. Korean J Community Nutr. 2006; 11(2):191–204.
7. Dungy CI, McInnes RJ, Tappin DM, Wallis AB, Oprescu F. Infant feeding attitudes and knowledge among socioeconomically disadvantaged women in Glasgow. Matern Child Health J. 2008; 12:313–322.
8. Forster DA, McLachlan HL, Lumley J. Factors associated with breast feeding at sixmonths postpartum in a group of Australian women. Int Breastfeed J. 2006; 1:18.
9. Dodgson JE, Tarrant M. Outcomes of a breast-feeding educational intervention for baccalaureate nursing students. Nurse Educ Today. 2007; 27:856–867.
10. Lee JW. A study on actual conditions and needs of breast feeding education for pregnant women in health centers. Korean J Community Nutr. 2008; 13(6):818–828.
11. Kim JK, Choi HM, Ryu EJ. Postnatal breast feeding knowledge, techniques and rates of first-time mothers depending on a prenatal breast-feeding education method. J Korean Acad Soc Nurs Edu. 2011; 17(1):90–99.
12. Kim KN, Hyun TS, Kang NM. A survey on the feeding practices of women for the development of a breast-feeding education program. Korean J Community Nutr. 2002; 7(3):345–353.
13. Korea Institute for Health and Social Affairs. The 2012 national survey on fertility, family health and welfare in Korea. Seoul: KIHASA;2012.
14. Lee HK, Song Y, Kang NM. A survey of female college students' knowledge and attitudes toward breastfeeding. Korean J Community Nutr. 2008; 13(3):367–373.
15. Lee SO, Na SS, Park KY. Exclusive breast-feeding rates of breast feeding-willing mothers and its influencing factors by the 1st, 3rd, and 6th month of postpartum. J Korean Soc Matern Child Health. 2012; 16(1):44–55.
16. Sharma M, Petosa R. Impact of expectant fathers in breast-feeding dicisions. J Am Diet Assoc. 1997; 97(11):1311–1313.
17. Tarrant M, Dodgson JE. Knowledge, attitudes, exposure and future intentions of Hong Kong university students toward infant feeding. J Obstet Gynecol Neonatal Nurs. 2007; 36(3):243–254.
18. Bozzette M, Posner T. Increasing student nurses' knowledge of breastfeeding in baccalaureate education. Nurse Educ Pract. 2013; 13(3):228–233.
19. Kim YJ, Moon GN, Jung JH, Lee SO, Choi GS, Chun ES, Bae JY. Breast feeding practice according to the breast-feeding problem during the first week of postpartum. J Korean Acad Womens Health Nurs. 1998; 4(3):416–428.
20. Nigel S, Valerie H, Christina P. Engaging and supporting fathers to promote breast feeding: A concept analysis. 2013. cited 2013 August 22. Available from http://www.midwiferyjournal.com/article/S0266-6138(13)00219-2/abstract.
21. Oh HE, Park NJ, Im ES. An analitic study measuring factors interrupting in breast-feeding. Korean J Matern Child Health Nurs. 1994; 4(1):68–79.
22. Rotter JB. Generalized expectancies for internal versus external control reinforcement. Psychol Monogr. 1966; 80:1–28.
23. Earle S. Why some women do not breast feed: bottle feeding and fathers'role. Midwifery. 2000; 16(4):323–330.
24. Seo IS, Jung MS, Suh YS. Effect of education for encouraging breastfeeding on practice of breastfeeding. J Korean Acad Womens Health Nurs. 2000; 6(4):632–642.
25. Song BC, Cho JH, Lee IY, Kim MK. A study on knowledge on breast feeding of college students by their general characteristics. Korean J Food Cult. 2008; 23(2):268–272.
26. Song Y, Kim AJ, Lee YS, Yoo TW, Kang NM. Evaluation the breast feeding information websites for Korean adolescents. Korean J Food Nutr. 2007; 20(4):487–493.
27. Osband YB, Altman RL, Patrick PA, Edwards KS. Breast feeding education and support services offered to pediatric residents in the US. Acad Pediatr. 2011; 11(1):75–79.
28. Yoo EK, Kim MH, Seo WS. A study on the rate of breastfeeding practice by education and continuous telephone follow up. Korean J Women Health Nurs. 2002; 8(3):424–434.
29. Yun SE, Lee HK. Effects of breast-feeding adaptation, attitude and practice of primipara depending on method of postpartum breast-feeding education. Korean J Women Health Nurs. 2012; 18(2):75–84.