Knowledge, Attitudes and Practices Regarding Breastfeeding Support among Village Health Volunteers in Nakhon Nayok, Thailand

Abstract

Background: In Thailand, village health volunteer play an important role for breastfeeding support in the community.

Objective: to assess the knowledge, attitudes and breastfeeding support practices provided by village health volunteers.

Materials and Methods: The subjects were 72 village health volunteers from three sub-districts; Klong Yai, Buangsan and Chomphol of the Ongkharak district in the Nakhon Nayok province.  The study was done during the period from the beginning of March to the end of June, 2014.  The questionnaire has been designed to assess the knowledge, attitudes and breastfeeding support practice provided by the village health volunteers. The questionnaires were distributed to the village health volunteers and the data analyzed. The 6-month exclusive breastfeeding rates of each area were determined by home visitation. The data was collected and analyzed by the Chi square and Kruskal-Wallis test.

Results: The knowledge score totaled 8 points. The median of the knowledge scores of Klong Yai, Buangsan and Chomphol were 7, 8 and 7 points, respectively. The attitude score totaled 30 points. The median of attitude scores of Klong Yai, Buangsan and Chomphol were 26, 30 and 28 points; percentages of the village health volunteer’s home visits and breastfeeding support were 75.0, 90.5 and 87.5; and the exclusive breastfeeding rates for six months were 33.3%, 39.3% and 37.0%, respectively.

Conclusion: The knowledge, attitudes and breastfeeding support practices among village health volunteers in the three sub-districts were high and were consistent with the 6-month, exclusive breastfeeding rates for each area.