Infant feeding knowledge, attitudes and practices of mothers in private health facilities in Alice Town, Eastern Cape, South Africa
- Authors: Oyeniran, Aderonke Adepeju
- Date: 2022-07
- Subjects: Infants -- Nutrition , Baby foods , Breastfeeding
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/27139 , vital:66315
- Description: Background and aim of the study: Within the global field of health education, it is generally accepted that the topic of breast-feeding is a crucial discussion due to its maternal, infant, and communal benefits. However, certain African countries, such as South Africa, experience certain challenges related to both predictive factors and maternal attitudes to breast-feeding. To improve public awareness and promote the implementation of breast-feeding, these factors should be investigated to highlight the importance of this practice among young mothers. Method: The study utilised a cross-sectional survey by means of a self-administered questionnaire, which was completed by the carefully chosen participants. The collected data were then analysed using a statistical package for social sciences (SPSS) (frequency, percentages, mean and standard deviation) and inferential statistics (logistic regression). The level of significance for the inferential statistics was set at 0.05. Results: A total of 377 infant mothers participated in the study with median age of 30. Most infant mothers that participated in the study were well educated with infant mother 189 having a bachelor’s degree. The findings revealed that mothers of 40 years above are 1.51 times more likely not to breastfeed exclusively compared to mothers of less than 40 years of age (95percent CI, 0.75-2.25). The odds ratio of the incidence of decision in breastfeeding for participants with breastfeeding and formula milk was 1.66 (95percent CI, 0.87-2.53). In term of family support, mothers who don’t receive family support were 3.43 times more likely no to breastfeed. The result also revealed that mothers with breast pain were 0.98 more likely not to breastfeed. Conclusion: This study concludes that infant mothers are well informed about breastfeeding. This study also revealed that factors such as infant mothers’ knowledge about breastfeeding, medical health of both mother and infant and cultural norms can go a long way in influencing the decision of mothers to breastfeeding their infant or not. , Thesis (MPH) -- Faculty of Health Sciences, 2022
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- Date Issued: 2022-07
Barriers to exclusive breastfeeding for mothers in the Tswelopele Municipality
- Authors: Quebu, Simthandile Rebecca
- Date: 2020-03
- Subjects: Breastfeeding , Infants -- Nutrition
- Language: English
- Type: Master's theses , text
- Identifier: http://hdl.handle.net/10353/27209 , vital:66466
- Description: The purpose of the study was to assess the barriers to exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) of mothers in the Tswelopele Municipality. The South Africa Demographic and Health survey reported the country’s EBF rates among children below six months of age to be at 32 percent for the year 2016. The World Health Organisation endorses the promotion and protection of the practice of EBF throughout the first six months of life, and the addition of complementary foods at six months coupled with breastfeeding up to two years of age. This feeding practise is recommended as the most efficient feeding practice to save infants from various illnesses and mortality across the globe, irrespective of their mother’s HIV status and economic class. A qualitative, contextual, explorative and descriptive research design was employed for this study to achieve the research objectives. The researcher incorporated both purposive and convenience sampling in this study. Purposive sampling was used to select the clinics, and convenience sampling was used to select the participants. Mothers who had infants 6-12 months old who were accessing infant and child health services in the three public health care facilities in the Tswelopele Municipality were a target population. Individual semi-structured interviews were administered, and an audio recorder was utilized to record the interviews with the participants' consent. The researcher throughout this study verbatim transcribed the interview audio tapes, and ethical principles and trustworthiness standards were adhered to. The University of Fort Hare (Ref # 2021=06=12 QuebuS) granted ethical clearance and all participants gave formal consent to voluntarily participate in this research. Tesch's approach for data analysis to open coding in qualitative research was used to analyse the data. Sixteen (16) participants in total took part in this study and the research study was conducted during the whole month of October 2021.During the data analysis, four main themes and thirteen sub-themes emerged, all of which were thoroughly examined. The findings suggest that maternal factors such as extreme pain in the breast, maternal sickness, belief that milk supply is insufficient, lack of EBF knowledge and cultural influences are the key contributors to the success or failure of EBF practice. When mothers have difficulties with breastfeeding, their difficulties can become barriers to EBF. Furthermore, a noteworthy finding is that some participants in this study were eager to breastfeed their babies and maintain EBF for six months; however, their infants had problems that prohibited them from doing so. These issues primarily included infants who refused to breastfeed and breast milk not being tolerated by some infants, as seen by baby vomiting after feeds. It was recommended that breastfeeding education and counselling should be available to mothers and their families from prenatal to postnatal so that they have enough time to make informed infant feeding decisions. Furthermore, an open dialogue with mothers and their families on a realistic understanding of what to expect when they first breastfeed, as well as the exploration of myths, inaccurate information, and concerns can be addressed during the counselling sessions. In conclusion, health professionals should also take into account the culture of mothers, respect cultural customs linked with breastfeeding, and respectfully educate them and their families about traditions that may affect breast-feeding. , Thesis (MPH) -- Faculty of Health Sciences, 2020
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- Date Issued: 2020-03