In this national sample of residents and practicing physicians in three specialties, physicians were ill-prepared to counsel breast-feeding mothers. Deliberate efforts must be made to incorporate clinically based breast-feeding training into residency programs and continuing education workshops to better prepare physicians for their role in breast-feeding promotion.

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Although social and behavioral science theories are claimed to be able to contribute greatly to the effectiveness of health education programs, most practitioners in the profession seem to doubt this, and very few ever deliberately use theories in their work. Some reasons for such diverse views reside in the nature of the theories, in the very different roles they play in the worlds of theory-minded and practice-oriented health educators, respectively, in widespread unrealistic expectations of what theories can and cannot contribute to practice, and in lack of appropriate training in theories and their uses. Suggestions are offered to both practicing and academic health educators on ways to bridge the gap between the two camps, to render theories more useful to practitioners, and to train practitioners and health education students to appreciate the potentials of theories and to acquire skills needed to utilize such potentials.