Breastfeeding Self-efficacy of Mothers and the Affecting Factors

Abstract

Objectives: The purpose of this study was to determine the breastfeeding self-efficacy of mothers in the 0-3 month period and the affecting factors. Material and methods: The study was conducted between January-April 2011. The universe of the study consisted of all the mothers who were living in the center of Sakarya province and had infants ages 0-3 months. The sample used in the study consisted of 152 mothers who agreed to participate. The data were collected through face-to-face interviews with the mothers, using the "Personal Information Form" developed by the researchers and the "Breast-feeding Self-efficacy Scale-Short Form / BSES-SF" developed by Dennis. Turkish validity and reliability of the scale were done by Tokat et al. (2010). The data were evaluated with the SPSS program, using percentages, averages, the t-test, chi-square and ANOVA. Results: The average total score from the "taken BSES-SF" was determined as 58.61 ± 8.93, min = 16, max = 70. No significant differences were found between the scale score and maternal age (F = 0.437, p = 0.781), maternal education (F = 0.625, p = 0.645), economic status (F = 0.253, p = 0.777) and mode of delivery (t = 0.922, p = 0.358). The mean scores were determined as being higher for mothers who indicated having received training for breastfeeding compared to others who indicated having received no such training, and the difference between the scale score was statistically significant (X2 = 50.848, p = 0.010). Conclusions: Requirements for developing breastfeeding adequacy among mothers were determined. Nurses can give the necessary support to low breast-feeding mothers by assessing and identifying those requirements with help of this scale.