"ASSESSING KNOWLEDGE AND ATTITUDES REGARDING BREASTFEEDING AMONG UNDERGRADUATE MEDICAL STUDENTS IN CENTRAL INDIA: A CROSS-SECTIONAL STUDY"
Main Article Content
Keywords
Breast milk, breastfeeding, knowledge, medical students, children health
Abstract
Background: Breast milk serves as the ideal source of nutrition for infants and is essential to ensuring children's health and survival. Therefore, the main objective of this study is to evaluating breastfeeding knowledge and attitudes among medical college undergraduates in central India.
Methodology: This was institutional based cross sectional study conducted at Dr. P. D. M. Medical College & research centre in central India. We employed a validated structured questionnaire to evaluate the breastfeeding knowledge and attitudes among medical college students. A comprehensive enumeration was conducted among all students from the college. In our analysis, a p-value of <0.05 was considered statistically significant in order to assess the impact of various factors on breastfeeding knowledge.
Results: In the first year, breastfeeding durations varied, with significant year-to-year differences noted (p = 0.004). Preferences for weaning foods also varied across the three years, with a highly significant association found between food type and year (p < 0.001). The timing of water introduction to infants showed a significant relationship with the year (p = 0.006). Students' knowledge about twin's and supplemental feeding demonstrated a strong year-related correlation (p < 0.0001), but similar trends were observed in subsequent years without specific statistics. Likewise, knowledge about breast size and secretion displayed a significant year-related relationship (p = 0.006), while prevention of pollution using breastfeeding showed varying responses across the years without significant associations in chi-square tests.
Conclusion: This study revealed significant year-to-year variations in breastfeeding practices, weaning food choices, and the timing of water introduction to infants. Students' knowledge levels regarding certain aspects of infant care also varied by year. However, no significant associations were found concerning pollution prevention through breastfeeding. These findings highlight the need for ongoing education and interventions to promote maternal and child health. Further research can help explore the underlying factors driving these trends.
References
2. Available at: https://www.thelancet.com/ series/breastfeeding 475-491.
3. Dykes F. Breastfeeding in hospital: mothers, midwives and the production line. UK: Routledge; 2006
4. World Health Organization. Infant and young child feeding. Geneva: World Health Organization; 2020. [Cited 3 Mar 2020] Available from: https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/infant-and-young-child-feeding .
5. Victora CG, Bahl R, Barros AJD, et al. Breastfeeding in the 21st century: epidemiology, mechanisms, and lifelong effect. The Lancet. 2016;387:475–90.
6. McFadden A, Gavine A, Renfrew MJ, Wade A, Buchanan P, Taylor JL, et al. Support for healthy breastfeeding mothers with healthy term babies. Cochrane Database of Systematic Reviews. 2017(2).
7. Adrawa AP, Opi D, Candia E, Vukoni E, Kimera I, Sule I, et al. Assessment of the knowledge and practices of exclusive breastfeeding amongst the breastfeeding mothers in adjumani district, west nile. East Afr Med J. 2016;93(11):576-81.
8. Schmied V, Beake S, Sheehan A, McCourt C, Dykes F. Women’s perceptions and experiences of breastfeeding support: a metasynthesis. Birth. 2011 ;38(1):49-60]
9. World Health Organization. Nutrition. Comprehensive implementation plan on maternal, infant and young child nutrition. Available at:https://www.who.int/nutrition/publications/CIP_doc ument/en/.
10. Chowdhury R, Sinha B, Sankar MJ, Taneja S, Bhandari N, Rollins N, et al. Breastfeeding and maternal health outcomes: a systematic review and meta‐analysis. Acta Paediatr. 2015 Dec;104:96-113.
11. Yang SF, Salamonson Y, Burns E, Schmied V. Breastfeeding knowledge and attitudes of health professional students: a systematic review. Internat Breastfeeding J. 2018;13(8).
12. Kakrani VA, Rathod HK, Mammulwar MS, Bhawalkar JS. Awareness about “Ten Steps for Successful Breastfeeding” among medical and nursing students. Internat J Preventive Med. 2015;6.
13. Park K. Park's Textbook of Preventive and Social Medicine. 22nd ed. Banarsidas Bhanot Publisher; 2013:499.
14. Lewin LO, O’Connor ME. “Breastfeeding Basics” Web-Based Education that Meets Current Knowledge Competencies. J Human Lactation. 2012 ;28(3):407-13.
15. Seema N, Saboohi E, Kazi U, Hadi A, Khan H, Channa Y, Tariq A. Perception of medical students regarding breast feeding at Al Tibri Medical College and Hospital: a comparative study. Int J Res Med Sci 2019;7:4171-6.
16. Szucs KA, Miracle DJ, Rosenman MB. Breastfeeding knowledge, attitudes, and practices among providers in a medical home. Breastfeeding Med. 2009 1;4(1):31-42.
17. Utoo BT, Ochejele S, Obulu MA, Utoo PM. Breastfeeding knowledge and attitudes amongst health workers in a health care facility in SouthSouth Nigeria: The need for middle level health manpower development. Clini Mother Child Health. 2012;9(1):5
18. Brahmbhatt KR et al. Knowledge of breastfeeding among female college students: institution based cross-sectional study. Int J Community Med Public Health. 2016 Jun;3(6):1579-1583
19. Payghan BS, Kadam SS. Knowledge and attitude of college students about breastfeeding. Int J Health Sci Res. 2012;2(8):47-56.
20. Moukarzel, S., Mamas, C., Warstadt, M., Bode, L., Farhat, A., & Abi Abboud, A. A case study on breastfeeding education in Lebanon’s public medical school: exploring the potential role of social networks in medical education. Med Educ Online. 2018; 23(1).
Article Sidebar
Article Details
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
All articles published in JPTCP are licensed under Copyright Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Dr Pratibha Kale
Professor at Dept. of Paediatrics, Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Memorial Medical College, Amravati
Dr. Apurva kale
Assistant professor, at Dept. of Paediatrics, Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Memorial Medical College, Amravati
Dr. Pankaj Barabde
Associate professor, at Dept. of Paediatrics, Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Memorial Medical College, Amravati
Dr.Aditi Katkar
Assistant professor, at Dept. of Obstetrics and Gynaecology, Dr. Panjabrao Deshmukh Memorial Medical College, Amravati