Breastfeeding Knowledge and Attitudes of Nevada Health Care Professionals Remain Virtually Unchanged over 10 Years

It is prudent that health care professionals remain cognizant of breastfeeding-related issues to support nursing mothers. In 1995, Freed and colleagues noted deficits in breastfeeding knowledge among family medicine, pediatric, and obstetrics/gynecology residents and practitioners. Others reported similar findings despite calls to action and reports of successful breastfeeding interventions.

This retrospective study compared baseline breastfeeding knowledge and attitude scores from Nevada health care professionals from 2004 through 2013.

In-training and practicing professionals (pediatric/family practice/obstetric residents and attending physicians; hospital nursing staff; nursing and medical students) attended a 90-minute workshop at their sites. Following each session, attendees voluntarily completed a survey consisting of 2 knowledge and 2 attitudinal questions, using the post:pre-evaluation method, which diminishes overinflation of pretest scores as respondents can more accurately reflect their baseline levels. A Kruskal-Wallis test evaluated differences in baseline knowledge and attitude scores among 3 professional groups and for physicians over the 10-year period using Bonferroni post-hoc analyses.

A total of 889 professionals participated, with only physicians represented yearly. Except for knowledge of milk production, physician median baseline scores did not differ significantly over time. Overall, hospital nurses had significantly higher median baseline knowledge scores about initiation and frequent feeding than physicians and students. Nurses also had higher median attitude scores (likelihood of and confidence in talking with parents about breastfeeding) than physicians who had higher scores than students.

Despite growing societal enthusiasm and support, the baseline knowledge of and attitudes toward breastfeeding showed minimal change over 10 years.