An Exploration of Health Professional Support for Breastfeeding

Abstract

____________________________________________________ Despite research consistently demonstrating the benefits of breastfeeding, Ireland has one of the lowest rates of breastfeeding in Europe with rates at discharge from hospital being 45% (Health Research and Information Division, 2009). Increasing emphasis is being placed on the role of health professionals in promoting and supporting breastfeeding (Sikorski et al., 2003). Little data are available in Ireland regarding health professionals’ perspectives on breastfeeding and women’s experience of professional support. The research consisted of two phases, a mixed methods study exploring health professional support for breastfeeding and an evaluation of an intervention to raise awareness of breastfeeding amongst health professionals and the general public. The mixed methods study consisted of a quantitative cross-sectional survey which investigated different aspects of community health professionals’ (n=256), knowledge and attitudes towards breastfeeding, their self efficacy in dealing with breastfeeding issues and issues around breastfeeding education. This was followed by two qualitative studies, one of which explored the issues for health professionals, in both the community and hospital setting (n=58) in providing support for breastfeeding, and, the other of which examined women’s (n=22) experience of professional support for breastfeeding in the first year postnatally. Grounded theory methods (Strauss & Corbin, 1990) guided data collection and analysis in both qualitative studies. A cross-sectional mixed methods