INTRODUCTION:
Balancing work and family life, including breast
feeding is increasingly necessary for women’s rights and a strong, healthy and
vibrant workforce and better society.
Today’s global economic and labour
conditions are changing rapidly, with some positives but many negative
implications on women’s health and livelihoods, as well as that of their
children and families. By adequately integrating women’s and men’s productive
and reproductive work and lives, all sectors of society will benefit. Breast
feeding yields important
immediate and long-term health benefits for infants and their mothers,
including positive impacts on children's cognitive development and their health
as adults. Breastfeeding is
associated with higher productivity and lower absenteeism for breastfeeding
mothers and has additional benefit for society. The American Academy of
Pediatrics recommends exclusive breastfeeding through 6 months postpartum and
continued breastfeeding until the infant is aged at least 12 months. Among
other organizations, the World Health Organization, the US Surgeon General's
Office, and the American Academy of Family Physicians recommend comparable or
longer durations of breastfeeding. In
India, according to National Family Health Survey (NFHS 3) report, only 46%
under six months are exclusively breastfed and only 55% are breastfed on day
one.
Workplace barriers contribute to low rates of
breastfeeding. Research shows that supportive state laws correlate with higher
rates, yet by 2009, only 23 states had adopted any laws to encourage
breastfeeding in the workplace. Federal law provided virtually no protection to
working mothers until the 2010 enactment of the “reasonable break time”
provision of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act. This provision
nonetheless leaves many working mothers uncovered, requires break time only to
pump for (not feed) children younger than 1 year, and exempts small employers
that demonstrate hardship.
Public health professionals should explore ways to
improve legal support for all working mothers wishing to breastfeed.
Researchers should identify the laws that are most effective and assist
policymakers in translating them into policy. It
becomes critical to build an enabling system that would allow combining
breastfeeding and work. Based on the assumption that breastfeeding requires
commitment and determination, the researchers thought it was necessary to
enquire about the experiences of prospective working women on breastfeeding.
MATERIAL AND METHODS:
Setting:
The study was conducted at St. Ann’s Teacher Training
Institute, Mangalore.
Population:
II Year D.Ed students from
St. Ann’s Teacher Training Institute, Mangalore.
Sample size: 32 D.Ed students
Sampling Technique:
Non Probability
purposive sampling technique
Research Design: Pre test Post test one group design
Description of the tool:
·
Demographic
proforma
·
Structured
Knowledge Questionnaire on importance of breast feeding support in workplace
·
The
questionnaire had a total of 25 items. Out of 25 items 15 items were multiple
choice questions and 10 were true and false items. A score value of one (1) was
allotted to each correct response.
Knowledge scores were arbitrarily divided as good (17 – 25), moderate (9
- 16) and poor (0 - 8).
Data collection method:
·
Prior
to data collection permission was obtained
·
The
subjects were selected based on set criteria
·
The
structured knowledge questionnaire on importance of breast feeding support in
workplace was administered to the students. Content validity of the tool was
obtained. Pre-testing of the tool was done to check the clarity of items,
ambiguity of the language and feasibility of the tool. The reliability of the
tool was established using test-retest method. The reliability coefficient was
found to be 0.84
Method of data collection:
A prior
permission was obtained from the concerned authority to conduct the study.
Purpose of the study was explained and written consent was obtained from the
study participant. The participants were assured about confidentiality of their
response.
v Pre test: O1 - Day 1
§ Assessment of demographic characteristics
using a demographic proforma
§ Assessment of Knowledge regarding the
importance of breast feeding support in workplace using structured knowledge questionnaire
v Treatment: X - Day 2= Administration of
planned teaching programme on breast feeding support in workplace for 32 D. Ed
students
v Post test: O2 - Day 7 =
Assessment of knowledge regarding importance of breast feeding support in
workplace using the same structured knowledge questionnaire
RESULTS:
Section I: Description of
sample characteristics:
Age:
Highest percentage (65.6%) of students were in the age
group of 17- 20 years, whereas the lowest percentage of them (6.25%) were in
the age group of 24 - 27 years.
Income of the Family:
Highest Percentage (43.75%) of students belonged to
the income group between 5001 and 10,000, whereas the lowest percentage (6.25%)
of students belonged to the income group between 15,000 and 20,000.
Marital status:
Majority (81.25%) of students were unmarried, and
lowest percentage (18.75%) were married
Type of family:
Majority (68.75%) of students belonged to nuclear
family, whereas lowest percentage (31.25%) belonged to joint family.
Source of information:
Highest percentage (53.12%) of students had previous
source of information through educational programmes,
whereas lowest percentage (12.5%) of students received information through
mass/media/magazines.
Section II: Knowledge level
of students regarding importance of breast feeding support in workplace
Frequency and Percentage
distribution of the sample according to their knowledge scores
Figure 1: Bar diagram showing
the percentage distribution of the sample according to their pre test and post
test knowledge scores
Data presented in the figure 1 show that, in pre test,
majority (62.5%) of students had poor knowledge, (37.5%) of students had
moderate knowledge, whereas none of the students had good knowledge. In the
Post test Majority (75%) of students had good knowledge, (25%) of students had
moderate knowledge, whereas none of the students had poor knowledge.
Section III: Association of
pre test level of knowledge on importance of breast feeding support with
selected demographic variables
In order to determine the significance of association
of the pre test level of knowledge with selected demographic variable.
Chi-square test was computed for the available data.
Table 1: Association of pre
test level of knowledge on importance of breast feeding support with selected
demographic variables N = 32
|
Sl.
No |
Demographic variable |
|
df |
Table value |
Inference |
|
1 |
Age |
2.97 |
2 |
5.991 |
Not significant |
|
2 |
Income |
4 |
4 |
9.488 |
Not significant |
|
3 |
Marital status |
2 |
1 |
3.84 |
Not significant |
|
4 |
Type of family |
0 |
1 |
3.84 |
Not significant |
|
5 |
Source of information |
3.03 |
3 |
7.81 |
Not significant |
p< 0.05
Data in the table 1show that there is no significant
association of pre test level of knowledge with demographic variables.
DISCUSSION:
The present study shows that (75%) of students had good
knowledge, (25%) of students had moderate knowledge, whereas none of the
students had poor knowledge. The findings of the study were similar to a cross-sectional survey conducted on 383
lactating mothers who had breastfed for not less than six months and up to two
years among Nigerian mothers. Data depicted that 71.3% of the respondents had
good knowledge after the effective training.
In the present study there was no significant
association of pre test level of knowledge score with demographic variables. A
similar study conducted in Mangalore, India showed that there is a significant
association of pre test knowledge score with age χ2 = 17.2, p <0.05,
and also there was no association of knowledge score with gender and income
RECOMMENDATIONS:
Studies can be conducted with a larger population with
different teaching methods and audio visual aids.
CONCLUSION:
Findings of the study indicated that planned teaching programme was effective in improving the knowledge of D.Ed students regarding the importance of breast feeding
support in workplace. Samples realized that they have to be determined not to
give up breastfeeding when they get back to work. Increasing length of time for maternity leave and providing
designated areas at work places is believed to facilitate breastfeeding.
REFERENCES:
1.
Chidozie E Mbada1*,
Adekemi E Olowookere2.
Knowledge, attitude and techniques of breastfeeding among Nigerian mothers from
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Dec 2013, 6:552
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Netshandama VO, MACur. Breastfeeding practices
of working women. Curationis February 2002 Available from:
http://curationis.org.za/index.php/curationis/article/viewFile/698/636
3.
Emilia
del bono, chiara pronzato.
Does breastfeeding support at work help mothers and employers at the same time? March 2012-06 Available from:
https://www.iser.essex.ac.uk/research/publications/working-papers/iser/2012-06.pdf
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S.K. Rasania,S.K. Singh, S. Pathi, S. Bhalla and T.R. Sachdev.
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2011;1(3): 115-119.
Received on 10.12.2015 Modified on 26.12.2015
Accepted on 15.06.2016 ©
A&V Publication all right reserved
Int.
J. Nur. Edu. and Research.2016;
4(2):125-128.
DOI: 10.5958/2454-2660.2016.00029.6