Health literacy and its relation to continuing with breastfeeding at six months post‐partum in a sample of Spanish women

Abstract

The World Health Organization, the European Commission and scientific societies like the Spanish Pediatrics Association recommend, exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) during the first 6 months of infants' lives (Asociación Española de Pediatría [AEP], 2012; European Commission, 2007; World Health Organization [WHO], 2018). The Institute of Medicine (IOM) describes health literacy (HL) as the degree to which individuals have the capacity to obtain, process and understand the basic health information and services needed to make appropriate health decisions (Sorensen et al., 2013). Low or limited HL is related to less knowledge about socio-health services and increased morbi-mortality upon hospital discharge (Berkman et al., 2011; Office of Disease Prevention & Health Promotion, 2010). | BACKG ROU N DThe benefits of breastfeeding (BF) for mother include reducing the risk of post-partum depression and suffering breast and ovarian cancer throughout life, among others, and reducing the risk of sudden death, allergies, asthma or leukaemia, among others, for newborns (Oribe et al., 2015;Van Dellen et al., 2019). In central and southern Europe, EBF prevalence in countries like Spain varies between

Influence of Health Literacy on Maintenance of Exclusive Breastfeeding at 6 Months Postpartum: A Multicentre Study

“…A relation was also recently found between HL levels and continuing EBF in a pilot study; however, the follow-up period only covered 4 months [25]. Therefore, the present study verifies a statistically significant association between limited HL level and EBF cessation before 6 months in line with previous studies [27], and observed that the probability of EBF cessation was more than two-fold compared to the mothers with an adequate HL level.…”

“…As for the decision to breastfeed, the percentage of mothers who decide to BF rises with their HL level [26]. In one small study, health literacy was found to be a protective factor for breastfeeding [27]. Consistent with these results, the aim of this study was to explore the influence between the level of health literacy and the maintenance of exclusive breastfeeding at six months postpartum.…”

“…We assumed that if the proportion of women with limited HL at baseline were 45%, the EBF cessation rate in the adequate HL group was 40% and, to detect a difference between groups of 15% on EBF cessation, as well as a 0.05 confidence level and 80% statistical power, 350 women were required [27]. Considering a 10% attrition rate, the final sample size was estimated at 385 women.…”

The Relationship Between Obsessive and Compulsive Behaviors of Mothers Regarding Baby Care and Health Literacy in the Postpartum Period: Descriptive Research

“…24 Yapılan bir çalışmada, kadınların hastaneden taburcu olmadan sağlık okuryazarlık düzeyi ve emzirme düzeylerinin yeterli olduğu belirtilmektedir. 25 Kadınların sağlık okuryazarlık düzeyi bebeklerinin sağlığı üzerinde de etkilere sahip olabilir. 26 Yapılan araştır-malar, yüksek sağlık okuryazarlık düzeyine sahip annelerin emzirmeyi başlatma ve sürdürme olasılığının daha yüksek olduğunu göstermektedir.…”

Development and Validation of the Breastfeeding Literacy Assessment Instrument (BLAI) for Obstetric Women

“…Recent studies have suggested that an adequate level of HL may be a protective factor against early BF cessation [12,13,24]. However, these studies use generic HL instruments to determine the relationship between HL and the specific health domain of BF.…”