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Thai women's breastfeeding experiences and support needs

Thai women's breastfeeding experiences and support needs
Thai women's breastfeeding experiences and support needs
Breast milk is acknowledged and recommended as the best food for babies by the World Health Organization. However, globally the proportion of mothers who breastfeed is still low and this is particularly the case in Thailand. The aim of this study is to improve women’s ability to breastfeed. A two phase study was designed. Phase I was to better understand women’s experiences and breastfeeding support needs, which formed the development of the ‘Breastfeeding Support Package’. The package, which consisted of the tool and leaflets, was to be administered by the nurses with the postpartum women. Phase II aimed to explore mother’s and nurses’ experiences following the use of the package.
A pragmatic qualitative approach was used throughout. A government hospital in Bangkok, Thailand, was the setting for this research. Purposive sampling was used to recruit the participants for both phases of the study. In Phase I, semi-structured interviews of 17 mothers who visited the Family Planning Clinical, post-delivery, were undertaken. Thematic analysis was used to examine the data. For phase II, three groups of participants were involved: five participants from phase 1, five postpartum women and five nurses working on the postpartum ward. Telephone interviews were used to assess face validity to the tool while semi-structured interviews were used to investigate mothers’ and nurses’ experiences regarding the use of the package.
Three themes that contributed to women’s experience of breastfeeding were ‘knowledge and attitude towards breastfeeding’, ‘practicality’ and ‘support’. Three themes that contributed to ‘women’s needs of breastfeeding support’ were ‘knowledge’, ‘attitude’, and ‘practice’. The use of the package could open a ‘platform to communication’ regarding women’s needs and act as a ‘platform to support’ for nurses. The postpartum women were able to better communicate their needs regarding breastfeeding support with the nurses, as well as receiving the support they required. The packaged worked well with present conditions and environment at the postpartum ward of the hospital.
Apartsakun, P.
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Apartsakun, P.
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Cluett, E.
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Kitson-Reynolds, E.
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Apartsakun, P. (2015) Thai women's breastfeeding experiences and support needs. University of Southampton, Faculty of Health Sciences, Doctoral Thesis, 421pp.

Record type: Thesis (Doctoral)

Abstract

Breast milk is acknowledged and recommended as the best food for babies by the World Health Organization. However, globally the proportion of mothers who breastfeed is still low and this is particularly the case in Thailand. The aim of this study is to improve women’s ability to breastfeed. A two phase study was designed. Phase I was to better understand women’s experiences and breastfeeding support needs, which formed the development of the ‘Breastfeeding Support Package’. The package, which consisted of the tool and leaflets, was to be administered by the nurses with the postpartum women. Phase II aimed to explore mother’s and nurses’ experiences following the use of the package.
A pragmatic qualitative approach was used throughout. A government hospital in Bangkok, Thailand, was the setting for this research. Purposive sampling was used to recruit the participants for both phases of the study. In Phase I, semi-structured interviews of 17 mothers who visited the Family Planning Clinical, post-delivery, were undertaken. Thematic analysis was used to examine the data. For phase II, three groups of participants were involved: five participants from phase 1, five postpartum women and five nurses working on the postpartum ward. Telephone interviews were used to assess face validity to the tool while semi-structured interviews were used to investigate mothers’ and nurses’ experiences regarding the use of the package.
Three themes that contributed to women’s experience of breastfeeding were ‘knowledge and attitude towards breastfeeding’, ‘practicality’ and ‘support’. Three themes that contributed to ‘women’s needs of breastfeeding support’ were ‘knowledge’, ‘attitude’, and ‘practice’. The use of the package could open a ‘platform to communication’ regarding women’s needs and act as a ‘platform to support’ for nurses. The postpartum women were able to better communicate their needs regarding breastfeeding support with the nurses, as well as receiving the support they required. The packaged worked well with present conditions and environment at the postpartum ward of the hospital.

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More information

Published date: July 2015
Organisations: University of Southampton, Faculty of Health Sciences

Identifiers

Local EPrints ID: 381571
URI: http://eprints.soton.ac.uk/id/eprint/381571
PURE UUID: 03b6cc57-c79c-4979-95ea-506117101761
ORCID for E. Cluett: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-8707-5042
ORCID for E. Kitson-Reynolds: ORCID iD orcid.org/0000-0002-8099-883X

Catalogue record

Date deposited: 18 Sep 2015 09:38
Last modified: 15 Mar 2024 03:19

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Contributors

Author: P. Apartsakun
Thesis advisor: E. Cluett ORCID iD
Thesis advisor: E. Kitson-Reynolds ORCID iD

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