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A breast feeding education and promotion program: Effects on knowledge, attitudes, and support for breast feeding

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Abstract

This study was undertaken to determine the effects of a partner-support, incentive-baed educational program on breast feeding knowledge, attitudes and support and to examine the relationship between feeding intentions and feeding behavior among low-income women. Women who expressed a willingness to participate in the intervention were randomly assigned to “intervention” and “usual breast feeding” (control) groups. Sixty-eight primipara women, with expected due dates between May and December, 1992, volunteered to participate in the study. Of these, 34 were randomly assigned to each of the two groups. Approximately 81 percent of the women completed the study, leaving n=29 in the control group and n-26 in the intervention group. The intervention consisted of special incentives (prizes) for women and their partners to participate in several breast feeding education and promotion activities. Intervention group women and their partners experienced positive changes in breast feeding knowledge and attitudes. Furthermore, the intervention seemed to have influenced more women in the treatment group to breast feed despite their prenatal feeding intentions. In addition, the partners of intervention group women were perceived to be more supportive of, breast feeding than control group partners. These findings suggest that incentives, such as donated prizes, can be used to attract lower socioeconomic group women and their partners to breast feeding promotion interventions. Participation in such interventions can produce positive changes in breast feeding knowledge, attitudes, and support, and can have a dramatic effect in promoting breast feeding.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Coconino County Department of Public Health, Flagstaff, AZ

    David A. Dube MPH, RD (director) & Brenda L. Phipps BS, CLE (BID Project Coordinator)

  2. Department of Health, Physical Education, Exercise Science and Nutrition, Northern Arizona University, Box 15095, 86011, Flagstaff, AZ

    John P. Sciacca PhD, MPH, CHES (Associate Professor, Health Education of the Division of Health Promotion and Disease Prevention) & Michael I. Ratliff PhD (Professor of Mathematics)

Authors
  1. John P. Sciacca PhD, MPH, CHES
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  2. David A. Dube MPH, RD
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  3. Brenda L. Phipps BS, CLE
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  4. Michael I. Ratliff PhD
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Additional information

This study was supported through contract no. 59-3198-1-050 from the Food and Nutrition Service, U.S. Department of Agriculture.

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Sciacca, J.P., Dube, D.A., Phipps, B.L. et al. A breast feeding education and promotion program: Effects on knowledge, attitudes, and support for breast feeding. J Community Health 20, 473–490 (1995). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF02277064

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