Nursing Research Today is a free monthly online journal that collates and summarizes the latest research about Nursing, including details on health care, hospital staff, professional care.

The behavioral determinants of breast-feeding in The Netherlands: predictors for the initiation of breast-feeding.

Kools EJ, Thijs C, de Vries H

Department of Epidemiology, Maastricht University, Maastricht, The Netherlands.

The aim of this study was to evaluate the behavioral determinants of the initiation of breast-feeding at birth. The prospective cohort study used the attitude, social influence, self-efficacy (ASE) model in 373 pregnant women in five child health care centers. Prenatally, 72% of the women had the intention to breast-feed, and 73% actually started with breast-feeding at birth. Mothers who initiated breast-feeding differed in almost all the attitude, social influence, and self-efficacy determinants from others who initiated formula feeding. Intention was a very strong predictor of the initiation of breast-feeding. The components of the ASE model predicted the initiation of breast-feeding. Hence, the results may be used to tailor future interventions aimed at promoting breast-feeding.

Published 3 November 2005 in Health Educ Behav, 32(6): 809-24.
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