Journal of Community & Public Health Nursing
Open Access

Research Article

Statewide Breastfeeding Education Program Improves Maternity Staff Knowledge, Attitudes and Self-Efficacy

¹Louisiana Department of Health (LDH), Office of Public Health (OPH), Bureau of Family Health (BFH), The Gift Program; 1450 Poydras Street, Rm 2032; New Orleans LA 70112; USA

²Department of Nursing, Loyola University New Orleans; 6363 St. Charles Ave.; New Orleans LA 70112; USA

³Department of Global Community Health and Behavioral Sciences; Mary-Amelia Douglas Whited Community Women’s Health Education Center; Tulane University School of Public Health and Tropical Medicine; 1440 Canal St.; New Orleans LA 70112; USA

⁴4Colorado School of Public Health; 13001 E. 17th Street, B119, Room W3134; Aurora CO 80045; USA

*Corresponding Author:

Susie Amick
MSN, RN, IBCLC, LCCE
Nurse Consultant, The Gift Breastfeeding Program
LDH-OPH-BFH
E-mail: susieamick82@gmail.com

Received date: September 28, 2016; Accepted date: October 18, 2016; Published date: October 25, 2016

Citation: Amick S, Savage J, Brewer M, Wallace M, McKasson S (2016) Statewide Breastfeeding Education Program Improves Maternity Staff Knowledge, Attitudes and Self-Efficacy. J Comm Pub Health Nurs 2:139. doi:10.4172/2471-9846.1000139

Copyright: © 2016 Amick S, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

Louisiana breastfeeding rates are among the lowest in the United States with associated infant mortality and morbidity rates among the highest. To increase maternity nursing staff breastfeeding knowledge and to improve attitudes and self-efficacy towards evidence-based promotion of breastfeeding, a six contact-hour program promoting the state’s breastfeeding initiative, The Gift, was presented in 35 maternity hospital programs from 2008 to 2012 with 1086 participants. Mean post-test scores increased by an average of 25% (p<0.01), a strongly significant knowledge increase. Post-program evaluation analysis indicated increased confidence, as well as improved attitudes and self-efficacy of participants to implement evidence-based maternity care practices on which the state breastfeeding initiative and the global Baby-Friendly Hospital Initiatives are based. Programs, such as state’s maternity staff education program are effective in increasing breastfeeding knowledge, a critical component in increasing breastfeeding rates for improved outcomes for women and infants.

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