OBJECTIVE: to assess the effect of an antenatal training programme on knowledge, self-efficacy and problems related to breast feeding and on breast-feeding duration. DESIGN: a randomised controlled trial. SETTING:the Aarhus Midwifery Clinic, a large clinic connected to a Danish university hospital in an urban area of Denmark. PARTICIPANTS: a total of 1193 nulliparous women were recruited before week 21+6 days of gestation, 603 were randomised to the intervention group, and 590 to the reference group. INTERVENTION: we compared a structured antenatal training programme attended in mid-pregnancy with usual practice. MEASUREMENTS: data were collected through self-reported questionnaires sent to the women's e-mail addresses and analysed according to the intention to treat principle. The primary outcomes were duration of full and any breast feeding collected 6 weeks post partum (any) and 1 year post partum (full and any). FINDINGS: no differences were found between groups according to duration of breast feeding, self-efficacy score, or breast-feeding problems, but after participation in the course in week 36 of gestation women in the intervention group reported a higher level of confidence (p=0.05), and 6 weeks after birth they reported to have obtained sufficient knowledge about breast feeding (p=0.02). Supplemental analysis in the intervention group revealed that women with sufficient knowledge breast fed significantly longer than women without sufficient knowledge (HR=0.74 CI: 0.58-0.97). This association was not found in the reference group (HR=1.12 CI: 0.89-1.41). KEY CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: antenatal training can increase confidence of breast feeding in pregnancy and provide women with sufficient knowledge about breast feeding after birth. Antenatal training may therefore be an important low-technology health promotion tool that can be provided at low costs in most settings. The antenatal training programme needs to be followed by postnatal breast-feeding support as it is not sufficient in itself to increase the duration of breast feeding or reduce breast-feeding problems.
RCT Entities:
OBJECTIVE: to assess the effect of an antenatal training programme on knowledge, self-efficacy and problems related to breast feeding and on breast-feeding duration. DESIGN: a randomised controlled trial. SETTING: the Aarhus Midwifery Clinic, a large clinic connected to a Danish university hospital in an urban area of Denmark. PARTICIPANTS: a total of 1193 nulliparous women were recruited before week 21+6 days of gestation, 603 were randomised to the intervention group, and 590 to the reference group. INTERVENTION: we compared a structured antenatal training programme attended in mid-pregnancy with usual practice. MEASUREMENTS: data were collected through self-reported questionnaires sent to the women's e-mail addresses and analysed according to the intention to treat principle. The primary outcomes were duration of full and any breast feeding collected 6 weeks post partum (any) and 1 year post partum (full and any). FINDINGS: no differences were found between groups according to duration of breast feeding, self-efficacy score, or breast-feeding problems, but after participation in the course in week 36 of gestation women in the intervention group reported a higher level of confidence (p=0.05), and 6 weeks after birth they reported to have obtained sufficient knowledge about breast feeding (p=0.02). Supplemental analysis in the intervention group revealed that women with sufficient knowledge breast fed significantly longer than women without sufficient knowledge (HR=0.74 CI: 0.58-0.97). This association was not found in the reference group (HR=1.12 CI: 0.89-1.41). KEY CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS FOR PRACTICE: antenatal training can increase confidence of breast feeding in pregnancy and provide women with sufficient knowledge about breast feeding after birth. Antenatal training may therefore be an important low-technology health promotion tool that can be provided at low costs in most settings. The antenatal training programme needs to be followed by postnatal breast-feeding support as it is not sufficient in itself to increase the duration of breast feeding or reduce breast-feeding problems.
Authors: Ingrid M S Nilsson; Katrine Strandberg-Larsen; Christopher H Knight; Anne Vinkel Hansen; Hanne Kronborg Journal: Matern Child Nutr Date: 2017-02-14 Impact factor: 3.092
Authors: Alison McFadden; Anna Gavine; Mary J Renfrew; Angela Wade; Phyll Buchanan; Jane L Taylor; Emma Veitch; Anne Marie Rennie; Susan A Crowther; Sara Neiman; Stephen MacGillivray Journal: Cochrane Database Syst Rev Date: 2017-02-28
Authors: Natsuko K Wood; Nancy F Woods; Susan T Blackburn; Elizabeth A Sanders Journal: MCN Am J Matern Child Nurs Date: 2016 Sep-Oct Impact factor: 1.412
Authors: Laurie B Griffin; Julia D López; Megan L Ranney; George A Macones; Alison G Cahill; Adam K Lewkowitz Journal: Breastfeed Med Date: 2021-04-07 Impact factor: 2.335