Knowledge and attitudes toward breastfeeding in an African American male population

Knowledge of breastfeeding practice and associated factors among fathers whose wife delivered in last one year in Gurage Zone, Ethiopia

BACKGROUND

Breastfeeding is the feeding of an infant or young child with breast milk directly from female human breasts. It confers short-term and long-term benefits for both child and mother, including helping to protect children against a variety of acute and chronic disorders. In mothers, breastfeeding (BF) reduces postpartum bleeding, enhances accelerated involution of the uterus, and plays a crucial role in child spacing. Fathers have an important but often neglected role in the promotion of healthy breastfeeding practices. Evidence shows that mothers who have a supportive and encouraging partner are more likely to plan to breastfeed for a longer duration. So, this study was aimed to assess knowledge and associated factors towards breastfeeding practice among fathers.

METHODS

A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted in Gurage Zone among 597 fathers. One stage cluster sampling technique was used to select study participants. An interviewer-administered questionnaire was used to collect the data and it was checked for consistency and completeness and entered into epi data and exported to SPSS for analysis. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regression analysis was done to identify independent predictors. P-value < 0.05 was considered to declare a result as statistically significant.

RESULT

In this study, a total of 585 participants were involved making a response rate of 98%. The overall knowledge status of participants was 341 (58.3%). The mean age of participants was 29.5 (SD±4.5). Urban residence, educational status, exposure to media, having more than one baby at home, and accompany his wife during health-seeking were independent predictors of knowledge status.

CONCLUSION

This study has shown the level of knowledge of fathers towards breastfeeding in the study area was low (58.3%). Residence, two or more babies at home, accompany during ANC, and indexed infant illness was independent predictors of knowledge status of fathers towards breastfeeding. Policymakers and possible stack holders should better focus on the improvement of knowledge because the knowledge determines the overall condition of the family including the psychological development of the children that affect their life especially in a country like Ethiopia in which most of the decisions are made by them. Other researchers focus on the interaction of parents and the child and feeding disorders.

Integrative Review of Fathers' Perspectives on Breastfeeding Support

OBJECTIVE

To critically review and summarize the results of published articles on fathers' perspectives regarding breastfeeding support for their partners.

DATA SOURCES

We searched the following databases for articles published between January 2010 and May 2019: CINAHL, MEDLINE, PubMed, Scopus, Web of Science, ThaiJo, and ThaiLis. We included articles published in English and Thai.

STUDY SELECTION

After duplicates were removed, our initial search yielded 3,927 articles. We excluded articles in accordance with pre-established criteria. We performed a quality appraisal of the selected full-text articles and ultimately included 27 in this review.

DATA EXTRACTION

We analyzed studies that met inclusion criteria and extracted and organized data related to fathers' perspectives on breastfeeding support into a structured table.

DATA SYNTHESIS

The data were synthesized into three themes: Attitude Toward Breastfeeding, Knowledge of Breastfeeding, and Fathers' Perceptions of the BreastfeedingSupportThey Provided.

CONCLUSION

Our results showed that fathers' perspectives on breastfeeding support were shaped by their knowledge of breastfeeding and participation in the breastfeeding process. To promote breastfeeding, further research is required to design and implement appropriate interventions to help fathers effectively support their breastfeeding partners.

Exploring Breastfeeding Knowledge and Attitudes among Noncaregivers: A Narrative Review

Exclusive breastfeeding to 6 months with continued breastfeeding up to 2 years and beyond are well-established infant feeding recommendations based on evidence that breastfeeding has unparalleled maternal and infant health benefits as well as environmental and economic benefits. As with many high-income countries, breastfeeding rates remain suboptimal with only a quarter of Canadian and European infants receiving breast milk exclusively for the first 6 months. Breastfeeding promotion efforts have largely targeted caregivers in the prenatal and postnatal period; however, breastfeeding outcomes have been shown to be associated with broader sociocultural factors. Noncaregivers play an influential role in infant feeding at both an individual level (e.g., cues and input from health care practitioners and caregivers' social networks; as future parents) as well as a broader population level (sociocultural norms and policy decisions). This paper outlines recent research on breastfeeding knowledge and attitudes of noncaregivers by population subgroup. Positive correlations have been identified between breastfeeding attitudes, infant feeding knowledge, breastfeeding exposure, and breastfeeding intention among different subgroups; however, key knowledge gaps, lack of exposure to breastfeeding, and negative public perceptions of breastfeeding persist. Dietitians can advocate for breastfeeding promotion strategies that consider the role of noncaregivers to address sociocultural norms around breastfeeding.

Perceptions of Public Breastfeeding Images and Their Association With Breastfeeding Knowledge and Attitudes Among an Internet Panel of Men Ages 21-44 in the United States

BACKGROUND

Men's attitudes toward public breastfeeding may influence a woman's decisions about breastfeeding and her perceived comfort with public breastfeeding. Research aim: This study aimed to evaluate factors associated with men's visual perception of images of public breastfeeding.

METHODS

A 95-item online survey was administered to 502 U.S. men ages 21 to 44. Respondents were presented with four images of women breastfeeding and asked to evaluate agreement with 15 adjectives describing each image. Based on factor analysis, 13 of these adjectives were combined to create the Breastfeeding Images Scale for each image. An 8-item Situational Statements Scale and the 17-item Iowa Infant Feeding Attitude Scale (IIFAS) were used to assess breastfeeding knowledge and attitudes. Multiple regression was used to evaluate the association between breastfeeding attitudes and knowledge and the Breastfeeding Images Scale.

RESULTS

The image depicting a woman breastfeeding privately at home had the highest mean score of 71.95, 95% confidence interval (CI) [70.69, 73.22], on the Breastfeeding Images Scale, compared with 61.93, 95% CI [60.51, 63.36], for the image of a woman breastfeeding in a public setting. The overall mean scale score for the IIFAS was 56.99, 95% CI [56.27, 57.70], and for the Situational Statements Scale was 28.80, 95% CI [27.92, 29.69]. For all images, increasing breastfeeding knowledge and attitudes measured by the IIFAS and the Situational Statements Scale were associated with a more positive perception of the image.

CONCLUSION

Images of public breastfeeding are viewed less favorably by men in the sample than are images of private breastfeeding. Knowledge and attitudes toward breastfeeding are positively associated with perception of breastfeeding images.