Breastfeeding knowledge and attitudes of health professional students: a systematic review

Yang, Shu-Fei; Salamonson, Yenna; Burns, Elaine; Schmied, Virginia

doi:10.1186/s13006-018-0153-1

Cited by 96 publications

(84 citation statements)

References 34 publications

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“…Although students felt prepared to identify benefits of breastfeeding, their confidence to perform breastfeeding skills was low.. This is concordant with a systematic review of healthcare students demonstrating insufficient breastfeeding knowledge regarding assessment and management of breastfeeding-related issues [25]. A study in the USA found 100% nursing students were able to identify breastmilk as the optimum feeding choice, however 65% were unable to identify cracked nipples as a potential indication poor latching, with 62% believing cracked nipples are managed by expressing milk and refraining from breastfeeding for 24 h [26].…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 71%

Are the doctors of the future ready to support breastfeeding? A cross-sectional study in the UK

et al. 2020

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Background: Currently there is no published data on the inclusion of breastfeeding education within the UK medical school curriculum. This study aims to address this knowledge gap and explore students' perceptions of their readiness to support breastfeeding. Methods: An online survey was used to collect data from 32 UK undergraduate medical schools and their students. All students in their final two years of study at the 30 universities offering a 5-or 6-year medicine course, were eligible. Results: Curriculum data was obtained from 26 (81%) institutions. Compulsory breastfeeding education was provided by 85% (N = 22) institutions with 81% (n = 21) providing lecture-based teaching and 19% (n = 5) offering formal clinical education. Overall, 411 students from 22 institutions participated. A moderate ability to identify the benefits of breastfeeding was observed; however, self-rated confidence in practical skills was poor. Assisting with latching was the least confident skill, with confidence in only 3% (14/411) students. Most students (93%) viewed doctors as playing an important role in breastfeeding, with those interested in either women's health, paediatrics or general practice perceiving the role of doctors as more important. Overall, 93% (381/411) students requested further breastfeeding education. Conclusions: This study suggests UK medical schools are not adequately preparing students to support breastfeeding patients. Further studies should explore the competency of doctors to meet the needs of lactating women, and design optimal training for UK medical students.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 71%

Are the doctors of the future ready to support breastfeeding? A cross-sectional study in the UK

et al. 2020

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“…The current systematic review was reported using the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and meta-analysis (PRISMA) [23]. We searched published literature using the PubMed, Web of Science, Google Scholar, Embase, Science direct, and Cochrane library databases.…”

Section: Searching Strategiesmentioning

confidence: 99%

Knowledge, attitude, and practice of exclusive breastfeeding among mothers in East Africa: a systematic review

et al. 2020

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Background: Exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) is recommended for the first six months of age by the World Health Organization. Mothers' good knowledge and positive attitude play key roles in the process of exclusive breastfeeding practices. In this study, we report on a systematic review of the literature that aimed to examine the status of mothers' knowledge, attitude, and practices related to exclusive breastfeeding in East Africa, so as to provide clues on what can be done to improve exclusive breastfeeding. Methods: A systematic review of peer-reviewed literature was performed. The search for literature was conducted utilizing six electronic databases, Pub med, Web of Science, Google Scholar, Embase, Science Direct, and Cochrane library, for studies published in English from January 2000 to June 2019 and conducted in East Africa. Studies focused on mothers' knowledge, attitudes, or practices related to exclusive breastfeeding. All papers were reviewed using a predesigned data extraction form. Results: Sixteen studies were included in the review. This review indicates that almost 96.2% of mothers had ever heard about EBF, 84.4% were aware of EBF, and 49.2% knew that the duration of EBF was the first six months only. In addition, 42.1% of mothers disagreed and 24.0% strongly disagreed that giving breast milk for a newborn immediately and within an hour is important, and 47.9% disagreed that discarding the colostrum is important. However, 42.0% of mothers preferred to feed their babies for the first six months breast milk alone. In contrast, 55.9% of them had practiced exclusive breastfeeding for at least six months. Conclusions: Exclusively breastfeeding among our sample is suboptimal, compared to the current WHO recommendations. Thus, it is important to provide antenatal and early postpartum education and periodical breastfeeding counseling, to improve maternal attitudes and knowledge toward breastfeeding practices.

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“…However, health professionals, do not always receive adequate breastfeeding education during their foundational education programme to effectively help mothers. Studies done on the knowledge, attitude and practice of medical and nursing students from different parts of the world showed that a lot more need to be done in educating and building the capacity of health professionals [26][27][28][29][30]. The knowledge of the students was mostly average and they were low for those in preclinical school.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Knowledge, Attitude and Intending Practice on Breastfeeding Among Clinical Medical Students in Bingham University Teaching Hospital, Jos

Shehu¹

2019

EJPM

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Background: Breastfeeding is a basic human activity, vital to infant and maternal health. A good breastfeeding advice from health professionals can influence a mother's decision to initiate and maintain breastfeeding positively. This study is aimed at assessing clinical medical students' knowledge, attitudes and intending practice towards breastfeeding. Method: Consecutive sampling method was used. Results: Knowledge on the definition of the term EBF was correct in 120 (69.4%) of the students, 47 (27.2%) of them got it wrong while 6 (3.45) did not known the definition of EBF. The early advantages of EBF was known by over 70% of the students and the contraindications to BF was gotten by over 60% of the students. The students' knowledge about some false notion on not giving EBM to sick babies, cause of nipple crack and inadequacy of BF for twin deliveries were good with over 70% of them knowing the right thing concerning these. The attitude of the students towards BF was very good with over 80% of them having good attitude towards BF, however 16 (9.3%) will not BF for two years because they believe that it will make their breast to sag, while 23 (13.3) did not know if that is true and 62 (77.5%) disagree with the statement. The intending practice of BF was generally good among the students with over 90% agreeing to do initiate BF within 6 hours of delivery and practicing EBF for 6 months. The intending practice of BF was generally good among the students with over 90% agreeing to initiate BF within 6 hours of delivery and practicing EBF for 6 months. The major factors influencing decisions for EBF includes WHO recommendations 108 (48.6%) out of 222 multiple responses, closely followed by mothers who are still in school for further studies 59 (26.6%). Family advice was the least factor with only 2 (0.9%). The major factors influencing decisions for termination of breastfeeding includes WHO recommendations 75 (35.0%) out of 222 multiple responses, closely followed by mothers who are still in school for further studies 44 (20.6%. Family advice was the least factor with only 4 (1.9%). Conclusion. The knowledge, attitude and intending practice on BF by the students were good, but more needs to be done in the area of knowledge because they are the future doctors who will play an important role in educating the society on breastfeeding.

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Breastfeeding knowledge and attitudes of health professional students: a systematic review

Cited by 96 publications

References 34 publications

Are the doctors of the future ready to support breastfeeding? A cross-sectional study in the UK

Are the doctors of the future ready to support breastfeeding? A cross-sectional study in the UK

Knowledge, attitude, and practice of exclusive breastfeeding among mothers in East Africa: a systematic review

Knowledge, Attitude and Intending Practice on Breastfeeding Among Clinical Medical Students in Bingham University Teaching Hospital, Jos

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