Carolyn R Ahlers-Schmidt1, Hayrettin Okut2, Jolynn Dowling3. 1. Department of Pediatrics, University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita, Center for Research for Infant Birth and Survival (CRIBS), KS, USA. 2. University of Kansas School of Medicine-Wichita, Office of Research, KS, USA. 3. Janice M. Riordan Distinguished Professorship in Maternal Child Health, Wichita State University, KS, USA.
Abstract
PURPOSE: To determine whether participants in the Baby Talk prenatal education program were more likely to initiate breastfeeding than nonparticipants. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study comparing women with a singleton pregnancy who were enrolled in Baby Talk with matched controls based on zip code, maternal age, race, language spoken, and payer source. SETTING: Urban Midwest county. SAMPLE: Baby Talk participants enrolled between November 2015 and December 2016 (n = 299) and matched controls identified through vital statistics records who were not enrolled (n = 1190). INTERVENTION: A 12-hour prenatal education curriculum with 2.5 hours of breastfeeding content. MEASURES: The primary outcome was breastfeeding at hospital discharge as reported in vital statistics. ANALYSIS: Likelihood-ratio χ2 and Fisher exact test were used to test the significant association between categorical variables. RESULTS: Baby Talk participants were significantly more likely to initiate breastfeeding (93.65%) than matched nonparticipants (87.48%; P = .003). Non-Hispanic white and black Baby Talk participants were more likely to initiate breastfeeding than controls (96.15% vs 89.83%; 91.03% vs 77.02%, respectively; P < .05). CONCLUSIONS: Prenatal education has the potential to increase breastfeeding initiation among low-income women, especially non-Hispanic white and black. This study is limited as participants were from a single community, though Baby Talk was offered at 5 separate locations, and potentially from information bias as it was reliant on the accuracy of vital statistics data.
PURPOSE: To determine whether participants in the Baby Talk prenatal education program were more likely to initiate breastfeeding than nonparticipants. DESIGN: Retrospective cohort study comparing women with a singleton pregnancy who were enrolled in Baby Talk with matched controls based on zip code, maternal age, race, language spoken, and payer source. SETTING: Urban Midwest county. SAMPLE: Baby Talkparticipants enrolled between November 2015 and December 2016 (n = 299) and matched controls identified through vital statistics records who were not enrolled (n = 1190). INTERVENTION: A 12-hour prenatal education curriculum with 2.5 hours of breastfeeding content. MEASURES: The primary outcome was breastfeeding at hospital discharge as reported in vital statistics. ANALYSIS: Likelihood-ratio χ2 and Fisher exact test were used to test the significant association between categorical variables. RESULTS: Baby Talkparticipants were significantly more likely to initiate breastfeeding (93.65%) than matched nonparticipants (87.48%; P = .003). Non-Hispanic white and black Baby Talkparticipants were more likely to initiate breastfeeding than controls (96.15% vs 89.83%; 91.03% vs 77.02%, respectively; P < .05). CONCLUSIONS: Prenatal education has the potential to increase breastfeeding initiation among low-income women, especially non-Hispanic white and black. This study is limited as participants were from a single community, though Baby Talk was offered at 5 separate locations, and potentially from information bias as it was reliant on the accuracy of vital statistics data.
Entities:
Keywords:
breastfeeding; health communications; health disparities; patient education