The Effect of Breastfeeding Promoting Program for First-time Postpartum Mothers on Breastfeeding Duration and Behaviors

บทคัดย่อ

The purpose of this quasi-experimental, the randomized control-group posttest only research design was to examine the breastfeeding duration and behaviors of breastfeeding promoting program for first-time postpartum mothers during the 4 weeks postpartum. A random sample of 60 first-time postpartum mothers receiving care at postpartum unit of Buddhasothorn hospital, Chachoengsao province was recruited in the study. The sample was randomly assigned into the experimental and control groups. Each group consisted of 30 mothers. The experimental group received the breastfeeding promoting program, while the control group received usual care. The instruments used to collect data were the demographic data questionnaire, and the breastfeeding duration questionnaire and breastfeeding behavior questionnaire. Data were analyzed by using descriptive statistics, t-test and Mann-Whitney U test.

The results showed that at 4^th week postpartum, the mothers in the experimental group had statistically significant longer duration of exclusive breastfeeding than mothers in the control group (z = -3.01, p = .002).The average days for exclusive breastfeeding of mothers in the experimental group was 28 (.00) days, while in the control group was 23.60 (7.61) days. Both groups were not significantly different in scores of breastfeeding behaviors. (t = -1.65, p = .052) The findings of this study suggest that nurse-midwives and health personnel can apply this program before discharge and two telephones follow-up at 1^st and 2^nd weeks postpartum to enhance longer exclusive breastfeeding duration for first-time postpartum mothers.