Comparison of breastfeeding self-efficacy between adolescent and adult mothers at a maternity hospital in ribeirÃo preto, Brazil

Abstract

Objective: to measure and compare the breastfeeding self-efficacy between adolescents and adults mothers in the immediate postpartum. Method: is an observational, cross-sectional and comparative study, developed at a maternity hospital in Ribeirao Preto, Brazil. Data were collected between January and July 2014. The sample consisted of 306 adult mothers and 94 adolescent mothers. The breastfeeding self-efficacy scores were obtained using the Brazilian version of the Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Scale. Student t-test was used to compare the values of breastfeeding self-efficacy between the groups of participants. We considered a 5% significance level (p=0.05). Results: most adolescents and adults mothers (54%) presented high levels of breastfeeding self-efficacy and there was no statistically significant difference between the scores of the two groups (p=0.3482). Conclusion: health professionals need to be careful about breastfeeding self-efficacy in order to direct specific actions for each group of mothers (adolescents and adult mothers) to improve the breastfeeding rates.