Effects of a breastfeeding empowerment programme on Korean breastfeeding mothers: a quasi-experimental study.
OBJECTIVE
This quasi-experimental study examined the effects of a new breastfeeding empowerment programme provided to post-partum mothers within 3 days of entering post-partum care centres on their breastfeeding empowerment, problems and practice rate.


METHODS
The study employed a non-equivalent control group non-synchronized design. Participants who conformed with the selection criteria were selected from two post-partum care centres affiliated with hospitals in a city in South Korea. Each of the two study groups included 30 participants. The breastfeeding empowerment programme comprised four 60-minute sessions, and was applied for 4 weeks to mothers in the experimental group.


RESULTS
The breastfeeding empowerment scores were higher in the experimental group than in the control group (p=0.007), and there were fewer breastfeeding problems in the former group (p=0.012) and the breastfeeding rates were higher in the former group (p=0.017, 0.002 and 0.002 at 4, 8 and 12 weeks post-partum, respectively).


CONCLUSIONS
These results indicate that the provision of breastfeeding empowerment programmes to help mothers to identify and solve problems by themselves can improve breastfeeding empowerment, problem and practice rates, and hence should be considered useful as a post-partum nursing intervention in clinical settings. The effectiveness of the various components of the breastfeeding empowerment programme developed in this study should be verified in field trials.
Kang
Jung Sun
JS
Department of Nursing, Gyeong-Sang Hosipital, 92, Chilam-dong, Chinju 660-751, Republic of Korea.
Choi
So Young
SY
Ryu
Eun Jung
EJ
D000328:Adult; D001294:Attitude to Health; D001942:Breast Feeding / Q000009:adverse effects / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D003479:Curriculum; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006293:Health Promotion; D006801:Humans; D007389:Internal-External Control; D007723:Korea; D008960:Models, Psychological; D009035:Mothers / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology; D015403:Nursing Evaluation Research; D010353:Patient Education as Topic / Q000458:organization & administration*; D011181:Postnatal Care / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000523:psychology; D011209:Power, Psychological; D011340:Problem Solving; D015397:Program Evaluation; D020377:Self Efficacy; D012657:Self-Help Groups / Q000458:organization & administration*; D012944:Social Support; D018709:Statistics, Nonparametric