Using Videos to Teach Medical Learners How to Address Common Breastfeeding Problems

Though breast milk is the recommended first food, only 84% of mothers try breastfeeding, and 19% of those babies are supplemented with formula by the second day of life. Mothers often fall short of their breastfeeding goals, which has been traced in part to primary care physicians' discomfort and lack of confidence in assisting breastfeeding mothers. A video-based educational intervention was developed to enhance learner comfort and confidence in supporting breastfeeding.

Prior to watching the videos, two separate groups of learners (25 primary care residents and 40 medical students) were given two assessments to assess their baseline knowledge and self-perceived comfort and confidence with breastfeeding based on the American Academy of Pediatrics residency breastfeeding curriculum. We gave the learners a checklist to guide their observations while watching the videos. The learners repeated the assessments after watching the videos.

Students who participated showed a statistically significant increase in breastfeeding knowledge and self-perceived comfort and confidence in assisting mothers with common breastfeeding problems. Additionally, residents increased their knowledge and confidence, but not their comfort with breastfeeding.

The videos seem to have been most helpful in assisting learners with confidence with helping breastfeeding mothers and knowledge of breastfeeding. The videos also improved student comfort but were less effective in increasing residents' comfort as residents generally self-rated their comfort level as high preceding the video curriculum. These videos provide an effective way to begin sensitizing learners to the importance of breastfeeding, common challenges, and potential solutions for new mothers.