A study explored the perceived breastfeeding support of women from their family, social network, employer and even from health practitioners; and how these affect their breastfeeding practices and duration. They formulated a tool with a good reliability result.
In a study published in the journal Midwifery, a group of nurses and midwives in Pakistan devised a new tool to properly and adequately assess the perceived breastfeeding support of working mothers. This support come from social factions like family, work, information dissemination and even from health care workers. The lead author is Ms. Sheila Hirani.
According to the Center for Disease Control and Prevention in their program of Healthy People 2010 in the United States, breast milk is widely acknowledged as the most complete form of nutrition for infants, with a range of benefits for infants' health, growth, immunity and development.
However, in Pakistan, which has the second highest infant mortality rate in South Asia, malnutrition is the main reason of much of its high infant deaths. The prevalence of breastfeeding decreased from 96% to 13% from 1983 to 2008 respectively.
Measuring the insight of working mothers on breastfeeding support is imperative in attainment of knowledge about how support from family, friends, co-workers, employers and health care providers affect her discernment and attitude towards continuing breastfeeding even after her maternity leave.
A study in Pakistani working mothers was done by a group of nurses and midwives where they formulated an assessment tool on perceived breastfeeding support among Pakistani urban working mothers. This study aims to develop and test psychometric properties of perceived breastfeeding support by using a complete, reliable and validated tool.
The tool they devised was effective in determining perception of breastfeeding support and can be used by health care professionals to promote quality of services of breastfeeding among urban working mothers especially those who have no time to breastfeed their child.
The tool was designed to assess the level of support from several factions of the society for a mother who is breastfeeding her child. This will help assess if the support will enhance the duration of breastfeeding and solve the problem of malnutrition among infants not only in Pakistan, but in Southeast Asia and eventually the world.
