An Investigation Into the Effects of Prenatal Care Instruction at Home on Breast-Feeding Self-Efficacy of First-Time Pregnant Women Referred to Shiraz Clinics, Iran

Objectives: Mother’s milk is very complex biologic liquid for babies. It is strongly recommended that babies be fed exclusively by mother’s milk for the first 6 months of baby’s life and be continued until she is 2 years old. The mothers’ self-efficiency is the main factor to predict the breastfeeding duration. Therefore, regarding the significance of instructing mothers and its effects on breastfeeding efficiency, this research was conducted to investigate the effects of pregnancy care instruction at home on the breast-feeding efficiency of first-time pregnant women. Materials and Methods: In this clinical proficiency research, 65 first-time pregnant women, in their last 3 months of pregnancy, who referred to the clinics related to Shiraz medical school, were studied in 2 groups of treatment and control. The research instruments were 2 questionnaires, one of which contained demographic characteristics and the other one was Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Questionnaire developed by Dennis. Six sessions of educational programs were conducted for the treatment group at home (3 sessions in the last 3 months of pregnancy and 3 sessions in the first, second, and sixth weeks after delivery). Meanwhile, a questionnaire on breast-feeding self-efficacy was filled out and analyzed in both groups. Results: Both groups were the same in demographic variables. Variance analysis test showed that there was a significant difference in the mean scores of breastfeeding self-efficacy between the 2 groups (P < 0.001). Conclusion: Instruction of pregnancy care (at home), focusing on feeding by mother’s milk, is effective in increasing the efficacy of mother’s breast-feeding.