Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative: an evaluation of a quality certificate within the maternity care context
Kathleen Biesmans
Karel de Grote University College
Kathleen graduated in 2008 as a midwife and started working in a regional hospital in Belgium. She continued studying and in 2010 she received her master degree in Nursing and Midwifery. At the moment Kathleen is a lecturer and researcher at the Karel de Grote University College. She is responsible for the evidence based courses in the bachelor education and she is also the contact person for international affairs. She already finished two research projects: one about postnatal weight retention and one about the Baby Friendly Hospital Initiative. At the moment she just started a project about postnatal needs.
Abstract
BACKGROUND: To date, it has never been evaluated whether the way mothers perceive the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) matches the theoretical model. Furthermore, literature is not clear about the added value of... [ view full abstract ]
BACKGROUND: To date, it has never been evaluated whether the way mothers perceive the Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI) matches the theoretical model. Furthermore, literature is not clear about the added value of obtaining the official certificate.
AIM: To examine the association between level of baby-friendly care, perceived by mothers, and the initiation and continuation of breastfeeding.
METHOD: from October 2012 until September 2013 data were collected in seven Flemish maternity wards. All mothers who met the inclusion criteria and consented (N=619), completed a questionnaire about the perceived care. The breastfeeding mothers were followed up until seven months after birth. The level of baby-friendly care was defined by a factor analysis with principal axis factoring and varimax rotation. This analysis gave insight in how mothers perceived the baby-friendly principles and which factors proved important. Factor scores were used for further analyses to answer the research questions.
RESULTS: 492 mothers (79,5%) started breastfeeding. Seven months later, 24,5% of those mothers was continuing (loss to follow-up: 25,8%). More antenatal information about breastfeeding doubled the chance to initiate breastfeeding (OR 1,98; 95%CI 1,24-3,16) even after controlling for covariables. None of the baby-friendly principles showed any impact on the duration of the breastfeeding (long term). However, mothers who stopped breastfeeding within three days after birth scored significantly lower (p=.001) for ‘contact with a pacifier or formula feeding’ (mean -1,53) than mothers who continued (mean 0,07). The presence of the official BFHI certificate showed for neither of the two outcomes an effect.
CONCLUSION: ‘Antenatal information’ and ‘contact with a pacifier or formula feeding’ appeared to be the most important factors. According to this study, obtaining the official BFHI certificate did not show an added value on the initiation and continuation of breastfeeding.
Authors
-
Kathleen Biesmans
(Karel de Grote University College)
-
Eva Eelen
(GasthuisZusters Antwerpen)
-
Erik Franck
(Karel de Grote University College and University of Antwerp)
Topic Area
Maternity care and women's health
Session
OS-3D » OS-3Midwifery (14:40 - Monday, 30th March, seminar room 5)
Presentation Files
The presenter has not uploaded any presentation files.
