Development of a Breastfeeding Promotion Program in the Community through Health Network Collaboration
Keywords:
Breastfeeding, Collaboration, Community, Health Network, Program DevelopmentAbstract
Background and Objectives The exclusive breastfeeding rate in the community has not yet met the target, due to the lack of systematic support and follow-up in the community. This research aimed to develop a breastfeeding promotion program in the community through health network collaboration.
Methods The development of a program was conducted in three phases: 1) designing the program, which involved assessing community problems and needs; 2) validation of the quality; and 3) evaluation through a pilot implementation of the program with participants, including 4 registered nurses, 24 village health volunteers, and 5 postpartum mothers. The research instruments included the Breastfeeding Promotion Program in the Community, a Breastfeeding Knowledge Assessment Form, a Breastfeeding Skills Observation Form, an Infant Feeding Record and Monitoring Form, and an Exclusive Breastfeeding Interview Form. Data were analyzed using content analysis and descriptive statistics.
Results The Breastfeeding Promotion Program in the Community through health network collaboration consisted of two main components: 1) program procedures, divided into: a health network preparation phase to enhance breastfeeding knowledge and skills, and an implementation phase for community-based breastfeeding promotion. This phase involved home visits during weeks 1, 2, and 6 postpartum, together with postpartum support provided via a LINE group, and 2) program instruments, comprised: intervention instruments, and data collection instruments.
The quality assessment indicated that: the program procedures and the four intervention instruments—namely, the health network preparation plan, the community breastfeeding manual, the LINE-based postpartum support plan, and the postpartum home visit plan—each had a CVI of 1.00; and the data collection instruments, including the Breastfeeding Knowledge Assessment Form, the Breastfeeding Skills Observation Form, the Infant Feeding Record and Monitoring Form, and the Exclusive Breastfeeding Interview Form, met standard criteria for content validity and reliability.
The evaluation of the pilot implementation showed that breastfeeding knowledge scores among village health volunteers increased from 16.33 (S.D. = 0.66) to 18.46 (S.D. = 0.25), while those of registered nurses increased from 19.75 (S.D. = 0.25) to 20.00 (S.D. = 0.00). Both groups achieved 100% competency across all breastfeeding skills. When implemented with postpartum mothers during the first six weeks, the exclusive breastfeeding rate at six weeks reached the predefined criterion of 80 %, with a mean duration of 37.40 days (S.D. = 10.28).
Conclusion and Recommendations The Breastfeeding Promotion Program in the Community enhanced the knowledge and skills of both village health volunteers and registered nurses. Postpartum mothers who received care through the program achieved an 80 % exclusive breastfeeding rate and maintained continuous breastfeeding throughout the study period. It is recommended that the program be implemented in communities with similar contexts, and followed up longitudinally in larger samples.
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