Title: Nursing Students’ Attitudes Regarding Breastfeeding Education
Name: Stephanie Uhr
Primary Presenters: Stephanie Uhr
College of Nursing
Research Doctorate (PhD)
Faculty Sponsor(s): Dr. Teresa Johnson

Purpose and Background/Significance: Breastfeeding impacts short- and long-term maternal and infant health outcomes. A woman’s decision to breastfeed her infant is influenced by healthcare workers’ promotion, education, and support of breastfeeding practices. All nurses have the potential to care for a mother-infant dyad and are consequently positioned to foster optimal breastfeeding practices. Promoting breastfeeding awareness is critical to normalizing breastfeeding as the optimal food for infants. This study aimed to investigate the effect of a basic breastfeeding educational module on nursing students’ breastfeeding attitudes.

Theoretical/ conceptual framework: The study was underpinned by the Theory of Planned Behavior. The conceptual model posits that an increased attitude toward breastfeeding may strengthen nursing students’ intent to promote breastfeeding.

Method: Quasi-experimental design using Pretest Posttest methodology. A sample of 40 nursing students was collected from one Midwestern university. The Iowa Infant Feeding Attitude Scale (IIFAS) was used to measure students’ attitudes for the pretest and posttest. The IIFAS was combined with demographic questions in a Qualtrics online survey and provided two times to elicit data pre-module and post-module to determine the change in the levels of breastfeeding attitudes for those nursing students participating in the study.

Results: The pretest and posttest means were 62.55 (SD 6.156) and 71.50 (SD 6.072). Data analysis using a paired t-test demonstrated a statistically significant difference of t = 9.628 (df = 39, p = .001) from pretest responses to posttest responses on the IIFAS.

Conclusions: The study findings demonstrate that a basic breastfeeding educational module can impact nursing students’ positive attitudes towards breastfeeding. Notably, 19 nursing students had a considerable increase in attitude, which moved them from a neutral stance on breastfeeding to a positive one. Implementing a comprehensive breastfeeding educational module would be a significant step to standardizing education and promoting breastfeeding best practices. As a result, all nursing students will be better prepared to support the mother-infant dyad in any healthcare setting in their future careers.