Efficacy of an Educational Intervention in Exclusive Breastfeeding

Overview

About 40% of children under six months are breastfed. However, in adolescent mothers there are greater barriers to making the decision to breastfeed. Counseling on breastfeeding could be a helpful intervention in sustaining this practice. This is a single-blind randomized controlled trial type study, with a control group that will receive routine care, and an intervention group that will additionally receive "Counseling: breastfeeding" through a maternity preparation course, both conducted by trained nurses. 59 pregnant women will be included in each group that attend the prenatal control program, for a total of 118 users. The level of knowledge about breastfeeding, the rate of cessation of breastfeeding and the rate of cessation will be evaluated in three measurements during follow-up.

Introduction: The World Health Organization establishes that only 38% of children under six months of age in the developing world are exclusively breastfed and only 39% of children between 20 and 23 months they benefit from this practice. This problem is more evident in adolescent mothers, in whom the social, family and cultural influence, their level of knowledge, and the quality of health care services are decisive in the decision to give breast milk to their babies or not. sons. In this sense, nursing must design and implement educational intervention strategies for the promotion, protection and support of exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months of life. Objective: To determine the efficacy of an educational intervention in first pregnant adolescents for the maintenance of exclusive breastfeeding in the first six months of life. Methods: experimental study type randomized controlled clinical trial with first-pregnant adolescents assigned to an intervention group and a control group. The sample will be made up of a total of 118 first-pregnant women, 59 first-pregnant women in each study group. The intervened group, in addition to receiving the usual prenatal care education, will receive an educational intervention of counseling on breastfeeding. The control group, in addition to the usual information on prenatal care, will receive an educational intervention related to infant care activities. The educational intervention will take place in 4 weekly sessions. Likewise, the intervention and control group will be given the final assessment of knowledge once the fourth educational intervention is finished and at 6 months postpartum. In addition, the maintenance of exclusive breastfeeding will be verified in the intervention and control group through home visits at two, four and six months postpartum. Randomization: It will be carried out by blocks in groups of equal size, randomized 1: 1. The generation will be given by one of the researchers who will not perform the intervention, nor the initial or final evaluations. Expected results: it is expected to increase the level of knowledge and a lower rate of abandonment of breastfeeding in the group of first pregnant adolescents operated on.