Six-month breastfeeding maintenance after a self-efficacy promoting programme: an exploratory trial

Area of Science:

• Maternal and Child Health
• Lactation Science
• Intervention Studies

Background:

• Breastfeeding care quality impacts breastfeeding duration and maternal self-efficacy.
• Inconsistent professional practices can undermine women's confidence in breastfeeding.
• Breastfeeding self-efficacy is a key predictor of successful lactation and a target for interventions.

Purpose of the Study:

• To evaluate the efficacy, feasibility, and acceptability of the SIALAC program.
• To assess the program's impact on 6-month breastfeeding maintenance.

Main Methods:

• Exploratory multi-centre controlled trial with sequential group allocation.
• Intervention group received the SIALAC program in addition to usual care.
• Breastfeeding maintenance analyzed using Kaplan-Meier and Cox regression; self-efficacy and status collected over 24 weeks.

Main Results:

• Six-month breastfeeding maintenance was significantly higher in the intervention group (67% vs. 55%, p=0.020).
• Breastfeeding dropout at 6 months was 3.3 times higher in the control group.
• The SIALAC program showed good acceptability with higher self-efficacy scores in the intervention group.

Conclusions:

• The SIALAC breastfeeding self-efficacy program effectively promoted 6-month breastfeeding survival.
• Further full-scale trials are recommended, considering identified feasibility aspects.