Autoeficácia na amamentação: Um estudo de coorte

Abstract

Objective: Evaluate the clinical use of the Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Scale as predictive of early weaning and verify if women who had higher self-efficacy scores breastfed for longer periods. Methods: Cohort study developed with 100 postpartum mothers. Research instrument used: Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Scale-Short Form. The feeding was monitored on the 7th, 15th, 30th, 45th and 60th day, by phone. Results: The mean duration of exclusive breastfeeding was 53.2 days (SD 14.2). Most mothers (82.3%) had scores compatible with high self-efficacy for breastfeeding, none had low efficacy. There was no statistically significant difference in the comparison of mean duration of exclusive and non-exclusive breastfeeding, with the scores of medium and high efficacy. Conclusion: Findings did not enable the confirmation of the use of the scale as a predictor of risk of early weaning. No relation was observed between higher scores of high efficacy and longer periods of exclusive breastfeeding.