The effect of hospital-based breastfeeding group education given early perinatal period on breastfeeding self-efficacy and breastfeeding status

Abstract

Aim: This study was conducted to examine the effect of hospital-based group breastfeeding education provided to mothers before discharge from the hospital on mothers’ self-efficacy and on the increase of breastfeeding rates. Methods: This randomized controlled educational research was conducted in the hospital is located in the West of Turkey. Ninety mothers who had healthy and term babies, and an intent to breastfeed their babies participated in the study. The questionnaire forms were collected by the researcher using face to face interview technique. Chi-square, dependent and independent groups t-test and ANOVA analysis were used along with descriptive statistics in analyzing the data. Results: Compared to the control group, the scores obtained from the Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Scale were higher in the education group in all the follow-ups. Similarly, status of exclusive breastfeeding was higher in the education group compared to the control group. In the twelfth week, the rate of exclusive breastfeeding was 80.0% in the education group, while it was 47.5% in the control group. Conclusion: These results show that breastfeeding group education and follow-up counseling given before discharge from the hospital were effective. This is evidence in favor of increasing the use of group education. This RCT was registered NCT04515862 with www.clinicaltrials.gov on 2020.