Title: The Iowa Infant Feeding Attitude Scale (IIFAS) – An Application with Nursing Students’ Breastfeeding Attitudes
Name: Stephanie Uhr
Primary Presenters: Stephanie D Uhr
College of Nursing
Research Doctorate (PhD)
Faculty Sponsor(s): Dr. Teresa Johnson

Abstract
Breastfeeding has a lifelong impact on a woman and her infant’s health, including reducing the overall maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality risk worldwide. Worldwide current research suggests if women were able to accomplish optimal breastfeeding practices, an estimated 823,000 child deaths could be avoided, in addition to an estimated $300 billion in economic savings. Multiple factors can influence a woman’s decision to breastfeed her infant. One such factor is breastfeeding promotion, education, and support by healthcare workers. Nurses constitute one of the largest groups of healthcare workers and are positioned to foster optimal breastfeeding practices. The purpose of this project was to investigate whether there is a feasible instrument to measure breastfeeding attitudes, in particular for nursing students. Based on a literature search for the years spanning 2010 – 2020, the Iowa Infant Feeding Attitude Scale (IIFAS) was examined for accuracy, reliability, and validity. The exploratory findings demonstrated the IIFAS has been utilized in diverse settings and various populations, including nursing students. The creators of and other researchers who used the IIFAS instrument demonstrated reliability and validity. The results also reveal that the IIFAS can be easily administered on paper or digitally and will only take a limited amount of time to complete due to the short 17 Likert-scale questions. Therefore, the IIFAS is a practical measurement tool incorporated into nursing research to evaluate nursing students’ breastfeeding attitudes.

Keywords: Iowa Infant Feeding Attitude Scale, IIFAS, nursing student, breastfeeding attitude

https://sites.uwm.edu/healthresearchsymposium/files/formidable/2/References-for-IIFAS-for-poster-QR.pdf