Abstract
The Iowa Infant Feeding Attitude Scale (IIFAS) has been shown to have good psychometric properties for English-speaking populations, but it has not been validated among low-risk pregnant women in Spain. The aim of this study was to assess the reliability and validity of the translated version of the IIFAS in order to examine infant feeding attitudes in Spanish women with an uncomplicated pregnancy. Low-risk expectant women (n = 297) were recruited from eight primary public health care centres in Galicia (Spain). Questionnaires including both socio-demographic and breastfeeding characteristics and items about infant feeding were administered during the third trimester. Participants were contacted by telephone during the postpartum period to obtain information regarding their infant feeding status. Prediction validity and internal consistency were assessed. The translated IIFAS (69.76 ± 7.75), which had good psychometric properties (Cronbach’s alpha = 0.785; area under the curve (AUC) of the receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve = 0.841, CI95% = 0.735–0.948), showed more positive attitudes towards breastfeeding than towards formula feeding, especially among mothers who intended to exclusively breastfeed. This scale was also useful for inferring the intent to breastfeed and duration of breastfeeding. This study provides evidence that the IIFAS is a reliable and valid tool for assessing infant feeding attitudes in Spanish women with an uncomplicated pregnancy.
Highlights
Breast milk is recognized worldwide as the optimal food for newborns as it confers substantial health advantages to both the child and the mother [1]
Socio-demographic and breastfeeding characteristics of the population enrolled were compared according to the language (Table 1)
Likewise, when bivariate logistic regression was undertaken with the positive attitude towards breastfeeding set as the dependent variable, the results showed that
Summary
Breast milk is recognized worldwide as the optimal food for newborns as it confers substantial health advantages to both the child and the mother [1]. Women in many countries do not follow these recommendations. In this respect, the most recent statistics in Spain show that the rates of Nutrients 2018, 10, 520; doi:10.3390/nu10040520 www.mdpi.com/journal/nutrients. Nutrients 2018, 10, 520 breastfeeding (exclusive and partial) are 72.4% at 6 weeks postpartum, 66.5% at 3 months postpartum and 47% at 6 months postpartum [3]. Psychosocial factors, such as maternal attitudes about infant feeding, have been found to be better predictors of feeding methods compared to sociodemographic factors [4]. Chen and Chi [5]
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