A preliminary study on the use of experiential learning to support women's choices about infant feeding

To assess the impact of experiential learning methodologies in primiparous women on their choice and maintenance of an infant feeding method.

A prospective controlled study into experiential learning methods applied to patients with four months' follow up. Seventy-three primiparous women attending the antenatal clinic at the West Suffolk Hospital for their 32 weeks check were allocated to two groups on the basis of date of attendance. Multiple pregnancy and serious illness were excluded. Thirty-three women attended a two hour seminar on breast feeding using experiential techniques. Forty had routine antenatal care and acted as controls. Breast feeding rates of the two groups were recorded at various stages. Assessment also included comments from questionnaires.

The two groups did not differ significantly in the number of women proposing to breast feed their infants (Z = -0.0490, P = 0.9609) nor in the numbers of women breast feeding on day one ( Z = -0.6203, P = 0.5350). There were proportionally more women breast feeding their infants at two weeks ( Z = -1.4944, P = 0.1351) in the subject group, but this was not statistically significant. However, the difference at four months was significant, ( Z = -2.5784, P = 0.0099), more than double the percentage of controls maintaining some breast feeding to four months in the subject group.

Experiential learning was associated with increased rates of prolonged breast feeding, possibly due to increased patient confidence in their choice. This learning approach could be applied to other areas of patient health education.