Formation of Breastfeeding Knowledge & Attitudes in Undergraduate Nursing Students
Rationale/Conceptual Basis/Background: The importance and benefits of breastfeeding in the first 6 months of life are well established. However, breastfeeding rates differ significantly among populations and frequently fail to meet established guidelines. Nurses are in the prime position during the pregnancy/postnatal period to influence this important health outcome, and nurses receive the majority of their breastfeeding education in nursing school. Little is known about breastfeeding knowledge acquisition and attitudes developed by undergraduate nursing students. Social Cognitive Theory will be applied in this study to gain a better understanding of the effect of breastfeeding content in the current maternal-child nursing curriculum on undergraduate nursing students.
Methods: Mixed methods will be used to meet the study aims. The quantitative aim will be assessed with a pretest/post-test design using a 24 question Breastfeeding Knowledge Questionnaire. The questionnaire consists of three domains: (1) Benefits of Breastfeeding, (2) Physiology of Lactation and, (3) Breastfeeding Management. Content and face validity were considered and Cronbach’s alpha for internal consistency is 0.70 for the Breastfeeding Questionnaire. One-way repeated measures ANOVA will be used to determine students’ change in breastfeeding knowledge over time. For the qualitative aim of exploring attitudes of nursing students related to breastfeeding, students will be asked to answer an open-ended question related to supporting breastfeeding in the emerging family. Thematic abstract analysis will be performed on the data obtained by the question. Approximately 100 undergraduate nursing students from a large urban university in Southern California will be invited to participate in the online survey.
Results: Nursing student demographics will be reported. Changes in breastfeeding knowledge as measured by the Breastfeeding Knowledge Questionnaire will be compared from baseline to the end of the semester. Themes from the open-ended questions will be identified and reported.
Implications: Inaccurate breastfeeding support and attitudinal barriers of nurses can be detrimental to the initiation, duration and exclusivity of breastfeeding. Identifying breastfeeding knowledge deficits and attitudes at the undergraduate level provides insight to modify breastfeeding education in order to positively impact breastfeeding rates and improve outcomes for mother and baby.