The Impact of a Self-Efficacy Intervention on Short-Term Breast-Feeding Outcomes
Jeni Nichols, BSocSci (Hons)1,
Nicola S. Schutte, PhD1*,
Rhonda F. Brown, PhD1,
Cindy-Lee Dennis, PhD, MScN, BScN2,
and
Ian Price, PhD1
1 University of New England, Armidale, New South Wales, Australia
2 University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: nschutte{at}une.edu.au.
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Abstract |
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Maternal self-efficacy for breast-feeding may contribute to success in breast-feeding. This study aimed to increase breast-feeding self-efficacy and actual breast-feeding through an intervention based on Banduras self-efficacy theory. A total of 90 pregnant women participated in the study. The women who were assigned to a breast-feeding self-efficacy intervention showed significantly greater increases in breast-feeding self-efficacy than did the women in the control group. Furthermore, at 4 weeks postpartum, women in the intervention group showed a trend toward breast-feeding their infants longer and more exclusively than did those in the control group. Greater increases in breast-feeding self-efficacy were associated with a significantly higher level of breast-feeding. Replicating previous research, breast-feeding self-efficacy was significantly related to concurrent breast-feeding behavior, and high antenatal breast-feeding self-efficacy predicted a higher level of later breast-feeding in control-group women. These findings have implications for breast-feeding support programs and for the potential general utility of self-efficacy-based interventions in health education.