Investigating the Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy and its Related Factors in Primiparous Breastfeeding Mothers

Breastfeeding is one of the most effective behaviors in health promotion and one of factor affecting its success, is breastfeeding self-efficacy. Low breastfeeding self-efficacy entails consequences such as early cessation of breastfeeding, reduction of exclusive breastfeeding, negative effect on sensation and performance. Regarding this study aimed to investigate the breastfeeding self-efficacy and its related factors in pramiparous breastfeeding mothers.
This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted on 300 primiparous breastfeeding mothers with less than 6 months infants referring to healthcare centers of Mashhad, Iran. The study population was selected through multi-stage random sampling technique. Data collection was performed by demographic form and Breastfeeding Self-efficacy Scale developed by fax and Dennis (1999). Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics, through SPSS version 16.
In present study,majority of participants were housewife within the age range of 15-25 years with diploma education and had normal delivery. Majority (79.33%) of mothers had high level of breastfeeding self-efficacy with a mean of 130.89±13.60. According to the multiple regression model, employed mothers (B =5.88, p=0.040) with an appropriate income (B=3.7, p=0.42) had significantly higher breastfeeding self-efficacy, compared to those with low family income. On the other hand, mothers with rental houses had significantly lower breastfeeding self-efficacy than their peers with owned properties (B = -3.48, p=0.023).
As findings indicated, breastfeeding self-efficacy of participants was at high level. This factor can help health care providers to predict length of breastfeeding, and success rate of exclusive nutrition in mothers, and thereby identify mothers, who are at risk of early breastfeeding stop.