Australian, Irish and Swedish women’s perceptions of what assisted them to breastfeed for six months: exploratory design using critical incident technique

BMC Public Health

Research Article

Ingegerd Hildingsson¹  Christine Rubertsson¹  Ingrid Blixt²  Brooke Thomson³  Lucy Lewis⁴  Yvonne L. Hauck⁴  Louise Gallagher⁵ 

[1] Department of Women’s and Children’s Health, Uppsala University, 751 85, Uppsala, Sweden;Department of Women’s and Children’s Health, Uppsala University, 751 85, Uppsala, Sweden;Centre for Clinical Research Sörmland, Uppsala University, Kungsgatan 41, 631 88, Eskilstuna, Sweden;School of Nursing, Midwifery and Paramedicine, Curtin University, GPO Box U1987, 6845, Perth, WA, Australia;School of Nursing, Midwifery and Paramedicine, Curtin University, GPO Box U1987, 6845, Perth, WA, Australia;Department of Nursing and Midwifery Education and Research, King Edward Memorial Hospital, Bagot Rd, 6008, Subiaco, WA, Australia;Trinity College Dublin, School of Nursing and Midwifery, 24 D’Olier Street, Dublin, Ireland;

关键词: Breastfeeding;    Prevalence;    International;    Social support;    Professional support;    Self-efficacy;   

DOI  :  10.1186/s12889-016-3740-3

 received in 2016-07-04, accepted in 2016-10-04,  发布年份 2016

来源: Springer

【 摘 要 】

BackgroundBreastfeeding initiation rates in some developed countries are high (98 % in Sweden and 96 % in Australia) whereas in others, they are not as favourable (46 % to 55 % in Ireland). Although the World Health Organization recommends exclusively breastfeeding for six months, 15 % of Australian women, 11 % of Swedish women and less than 7 % of Irish women achieve this goal. Awareness of what women in different countries perceive as essential breastfeeding support is a gap in our knowledge.MethodsOur aim was to explore Australian, Irish and Swedish women’s perceptions of what assisted them to continue breastfeeding for six months. An exploratory design using critical incident techniques was used. Recruitment occurred through advertisements in local newspapers and on social networking platforms. Initial sampling was purposive, followed by snowball sampling. Telephone interviews were conducted with 64 Irish, 139 Swedish and 153 Australian women who responded to one question “what has assisted you to continue breastfeeding for at least six months?” Content analysis was conducted and common categories determined to allow comparison of frequencies and priority ranking.ResultsCategories reflected the individual mother, her inner social network, her outer social network (informal support either face to face or online), and societal support (health professionals, work environment and breastfeeding being regarded as the cultural norm). Categories ranked in the top five across the three countries were ‘informal face to face support’ and ‘maternal determination’. Swedish and Australian women ranked “health professional support” higher (first and third respectively) than Irish women who ranked ‘informal online support’ as second compared to ninth and tenth for Swedish and Australian women.ConclusionsThe support required to assist breastfeeding women is complex and multi-faceted. Although common international categories were revealed, the ranking of these supportive categories varied. We must recognize how the cultural context of breastfeeding support can vary for women in differing countries and acknowledge the resourcefulness of women who embrace innovations such as social media where face to face formal and informal support are not as accessible.

【 授权许可】

CC BY   
© The Author(s). 2016