Effects of prenatal breast-feeding education on postnatal breast-feeding fear in pregnant women in the COVID-19 pandemic: A randomized clinical trial

AIM

This study aimed to investigate the effectiveness of prenatal breast-feeding education provided to pregnant women who experience fear of breast-feeding in the COVID-19 pandemic period.

METHODS

A prospective randomized controlled trial study was conducted with 128 pregnant women (64 in the experimental group and 64 in the control group) between November 2021 and February 2022. The data were collected via the Numeric Pain Rating Scale, the Breastfeeding Motivation Scale and the Iowa Infant Feeding Attitude Scale to assess fear, motivation and attitudes regarding breast-feeding. The pregnant women in the experimental group were provided with and education programme on 'safe breastfeeding in the COVID-19 pandemic'. The breast-feeding education included in standard care was given to the control group after pre-test data collection was completed.

RESULTS

The significant differences in the mean Numeric Pain Rating Scale, Breastfeeding Motivation Scale and Iowa Infant Feeding Attitude Scale scores of the groups were in favour of the experimental group (P < 0.05). It was determined that in the first postnatal month, in the experimental group, the numbers of women who believed that their breast-feeding was not affected by COVID-19 and the numbers of infants solely breastmilk-fed were higher compared to the control group (P < 0.05).

CONCLUSION

Prenatal breast-feeding education about safe breast-feeding in the COVID-19 pandemic period can reduce fears of breast-feeding and increase motivation and approving attitudes regarding breast-feeding.

Validity and reliability of the Turkish version of the Body Understanding Measure for Pregnancy scale (BUMPs)

PURPOSE

This study aimed to determine the validity and reliability of the Body Understanding Measure for Pregnancy scale by adapting it to Turkish society.

DESIGN AND METHODS

This methodological study was conducted with 265 pregnant women.

FINDINGS

We performed exploratory factor analysis and determined that the scale consists of 17 items and 2 subdimensions. The two-factor structure was confirmed as a result of the confirmatory factor analysis. The Cronbach's alpha value of the scale was 0.87.

PRACTISE IMPLICATIONS

The Body Understanding Measure for Pregnancy scale is a valid and reliable measurement tool for measuring the body satisfaction of pregnant women for Turkish society.

The psychometric properties and validity of the Turkish version of the Body Image in Pregnancy Scale (BIPS-Turkish)

In our study, we aimed to assess the validity and reliability of the Turkish version of the Body Image in Pregnancy Scale (BIPS). A total of 220 pregnant women participated in the study. The content validity of the scale was evaluated by the content validity index (CVI) and its construct validity was evaluated by confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). The reliability of the scale was assessed with internal consistency analysis, item analysis, test-retest reliability, and parallel forms reliability. After the modification, the t values, factor loadings and fit indices of the scale items were at a good and acceptable level (χ2 = 1114.57, df = 505, χ2/df = 2.20, RMSEA = 0.07, SRMR = 0.07, CFI = 0.95, GFI = 0.90). Hence, a 34-item, 7-factor construct was confirmed for the Turkish version of the BIPS. Cronbach's alpha internal consistency coefficient of the overall scale was 0.90 and Cronbach's alpha internal consistency coefficients of the subscales were within the range of 0.65-0.94. Test-retest and parallel forms reliability of the scale were at a sufficient level. In conclusion, it was determined that BIPS can be used as a valid and reliable measurement tool to evaluate body image perceptions of Turkish pregnant women.