The impact of the BASNEF educational programme on breastfeeding behaviour in Iran

Abstract

This study examines the impact of an educational programme on the breastfeeding attitudes and behaviour of pregnant women. It is a case-control study of 100 pregnant women in two hospitals affiliated to Shiraz University of Medical Sciences. The samples were randomly divided into a case and control group. The study looked at the effects of an educational programme based on the BASNEF model, which is a simplified approach to understanding behaviour focused on the beliefs, attitude, subjective norms and enabling factors of participants. The model was applied initially and after four educational sessions mothers’ behaviour towards breastfeeding was analysed. The results were analysed using statistical tests. The independent t-test showed that there were significant differences in the awareness mean score, mothers’perceptions of behaviour results, the score of attitudes towards working and the mean score of immediate enabling factors post-educational intervention, and at one and four months post-intervention (p<0.0001).The scores of subjective norms between the two groups was only significant for the medical staff (p=0.031). Compared with traditional education, model-based learning has been found to have a positive impact on improving behaviour; therefore, it is suggested that it should be employed in the clinical education of medical teams, especially midwives.