Paper
Monday, November 5, 2007
527
Development of the Sander's Breastfeeding Scale: Measuring Knowledge, Attitudes and Beliefs of Nurses and Nursing Students about Breastfeeding
Lorraine Byrnes Sanders, DNSc, CNM, APRN1, Sharon Sussman, RN, MBA2, Patricia Semeraro, CNM, MS2, and Shelley Bolnick, RN, MS2. (1) Nursing, Adelphi University, Garden City, NY, USA, (2) School of Nursing, Adelphi University, Garden City, NY, USA
| Learning Objective #1: describe the need for a reliable and valid tool to measure knowledge, attitude, and beliefs of nurses and nursing students about breastfeeding. |
| Learning Objective #2: describe the development of a tool to measure knowledge, attitude, and beliefs of nurses and nursing students about breastfeeding. |
Background: Rates of breastfeeding in the U.S. are below recommended levels with only 29% of women surveyed reporting continuation of breastfeeding at and beyond 6 months postpartum. African American women are especially at risk for discontinuing breastfeeding with only 19% reporting continuation of breastfeeding at 6 months postpartum. The role of the registered nurse includes teaching and providing information and support to new mothers about breastfeeding. A review of the literature demonstrates lack of knowledge by RNs and the decreased length of stay of new mothers as barriers to breastfeeding implementation. Many nursing programs include breastfeeding education but report less emphasis in the clinical area. Knowledge, attitude, and beliefs about breastfeeding can influence the nurse’s ability to provide breastfeeding education and support to women and families. Little is know about this topic and how it affects breastfeeding rates.
Objective: The study aim was to develop and test a tool to measure knowledge, attitudes and beliefs (KAB) about breastfeeding among nurses and nursing students and to report on its reliability and validity.
Method: A sixty-five item Likert scale tool based on a review of the literature and focus group findings was developed. Nursing and breastfeeding experts established face and content validity. The tool was then piloted to 25 nursing students for internal consistency.
Results: The tool demonstrated good internal reliability (alpha Cronbach coefficient = .82) for the overall scale.
Conclusion: Further testing of the tool will be conducted with 150 nursing students prior to starting maternity nursing and nurses currently working with postpartum women. Further psychometric evaluation including factor analysis will be conducted using this sample group. The tool, after psychometric testing, will be used to develop tailored educational interventions to both nurses and nursing students about breastfeeding.