RESUMEN

CONTEXT: Current breast-feeding rates fall short of the recommendations set forth in Health People 2010. The Breast-feeding Attrition Prediction Tool (BAPT), administered in the postpartum period, has been useful in predicting breast-feeding attrition. However, assessing a woman's intention to breast-feed prior to birth would identify women at risk for breast-feeding attrition. PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to describe a revised BAPT, administered antepartally that measures intention to breast-feed. METHODS: The BAPT, comprising 94 items on a 6-point Likert-type scale, was translated into Spanish and back-translated for accuracy. The BAPT was then revised by reducing the number of items to 35 (32 were used for analysis) and contracting the 6-point scale to 3 categories. A Bayesian item response model provided the psychometric properties of the revised BAPT. RESULTS: The revised BAPT was completed by 143 Mexican American pregnant women. Items, some reverse scored, were recoded as "agree" versus "disagree." Item analyses indicated a wide range of item discriminabilities, with most items being useful measures of intention to breast-feed. Person analyses provided scores for intention to breast-feed. A simpler scoring system was devised for applications. CONCLUSIONS: The revised BAPT shows promise as a measure of intention to breast-feed. The scoring system also indicates which women may need additional interventions to promote breast-feeding.

Asunto(s)

Lactancia Materna/psicología , Conocimientos, Actitudes y Práctica en Salud , Intención , Americanos Mexicanos/psicología , Encuestas y Cuestionarios , Teorema de Bayes , Análisis Factorial , Femenino , Predicción , Humanos , México/etnología , Enfermería Neonatal , Psicometría , Reproducibilidad de los Resultados , Sudoeste de Estados Unidos

RESUMEN

Focus groups were conducted with low-income, pregnant women and new mothers receiving services from the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children (WIC program) along with their male partners and their mothers. All participants were Hispanics of Mexican American origin. The topics for the focus-group discussions were breastfeeding beliefs and perceptions. All participants were aware of the benefits of breastfeeding. Participants identified time, embarrassment, and pain as barriers to breastfeeding; discussed decision-making efforts regarding breastfeeding; identified cultural beliefs related to breastfeeding; and discussed the lack of care-provider support for breastfeeding.