Elderly’s Attitude and Perceived Barriers towards Breastfeeding Promotion
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Abstract
Purpose: Elderly are very influential persons in promotingbreastfeeding. The purpose of this study was to determineelderly’s attitude and perceived barriers towards breastfeedingpromotion. Comparisons of their attitudes and perceived barriersamong different genders and age groups are also examined.
Design: A comparative descriptive design.
Methods: The study subjects were member of the HealthPromotion in Elderly Project, Faculty of Nursing, MahidolUniversity. The sample consisted of 75 elderly who were 60 yearsof age or over and able to read and write Thai. Data werecollected using a set of self-administered questionnaires.Descriptive statistics and t-test were used for the data analysis.
Main findings: Nearly half (43.8%) of the elderly highlypromoted breastfeeding while 28.8% rarely or never. Almost half(48%) reported their efficacy in promoting breastfeeding as highto very high levels. An average of attitude score towardsbreastfeeding promotion was 3.10 (SD = 0.26) with a range from1-4. The attitude was not statistically different between men andwomen (t (73) = - .072, p > .05), and between younger (≤ 70years of age) and older (> 70 years of age) groups (t (73) = .793,p > .05). Average score of perceived barriers was 2.39 (SD = 0.56)with a range from 1-4. The statistically significant difference intheir perception of barriers was not found between men andwomen (t (69) = -1.889, p > .05), but between the younger andthe older groups (t (69) = -2.554, p < .05). That is, the older theywere, the more barriers they perceived.
Conclusion and recommendations: The findings suggest that topromote elderly volunteers in “talking” about breastfeeding, it isessential to raise their confidence, especially those who are over70, with regard to self-worth of being an elderly, and educatethem to have precise and updated knowledge of breastfeeding aswell as effective communication with a new generation.
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