Maternal experiences of breastfeeding education and support: A pre-implementation study
Jennifer Abbass-Dick, Jayda Hylton-Pelaia, Adrianna Trifunovski, Keri Durocher, Manon LemondeAim:
The aim of this pre-implementation study was to assess mothers’ experiences of barriers and facilitators of receiving breastfeeding education and obtaining personalised support to guide the implementation of an eHealth resource for use in perinatal clinical settings in a health region of Canada.
Design:
We conducted a pre-implementation descriptive, exploratory qualitative study.
Setting:
Canadian mothers were recruited online to complete a survey and indicate interest in being interviewed.
Method:
An online survey was completed by 78 Canadian mothers who had breastfed an infant; five of these mothers participated in online interviews. Inductive thematic analysis using Braun and Clarke’s six-step approach was conducted to identify concepts, ideas, and themes related to mothers’ breastfeeding education and support experiences. The six steps included (1) becoming familiar with the data, (2) generating initial codes, (3) generating initial themes, (4) reviewing themes, (5) defining and naming the themes, and (6) writing the thematic analysis.
Results:
Five main themes were developed from the analysis, capturing mothers’ experiences receiving breastfeeding information, including (1) negative emotions from breastfeeding education and support; (2) inconsistent and insufficient breastfeeding information from healthcare providers; (3) barriers to obtaining personalised, competent breastfeeding support; (4) making breastfeeding education more accessible, engaging, and inclusive; and (5) timing and delivery of breastfeeding education.
Conclusion:
Mothers continue to report challenges related to complex emotional processes, the availability of education and personalised support, and receiving conflicting information from healthcare providers. Standardising education in multiple modalities that includes information on where mothers can access personalised, competent breastfeeding support when needed are potential solutions to these barriers.