Communication as an important key to successful breastfeeding

Communication as an important key to successful breastfeeding
Background: Breastfeeding is one of the most effective interventions to improve child and maternal health. Breastfeeding results in lower child mortality rates when compared with no breastfeeding and there is a sustained intervention effect on health outcomes with longer duration. Unfortunately,breastfeeding duration is very short in many countries. The World health Organization (WHO) is aiming to increase breastfeeding to at least 50% by 2025. National Guidelines on breastfeeding indicate that more awareness is needed when supporting women breastfeeding their baby. Literature indicate that a constructive introduction and communication skills are vital in order to enhance the woman´s self-efficacy when breastfeeding. Aim: To develop and test a training course for health visitors supporting women to breastfeed for 6 month or longer. Methodology: Inspired of participatory design (PD) involving new mothers through e.g thorough Facebook participation a bespoke platform for support and communication between new mothers and health visitors will be established. A training course will be developed based on the feed back from the Facebook group and existing literature Up to 12 health visitors will be assessed using MITI scale, a quantitative assessment tool measuring clinical skills in MI. This is being done prior to participating in a training course in MI and four months after. The study will take place in two sites, respectively in Denmark and England. Participants: New mothers and health visitors in Denmark and England. Result: Preliminary results will be available and presented at the conference. Outcome: The study will contribute to international research on breastfeeding and communication, especially in public healthcare and social policy making where attention is focused on well being and the target of enhancing breastfeeding rates. The study is an opportunity to a transition from practice- led research to employability and expertise.