Educational Intervention about Breastfeeding among Secondary School Students

Overview & Synopsis

Purpose: Breastfeeding education in the school setting offers the opportunity to improve knowledge base and positively influence beliefs and intentions for students. The purpose of this paper is to analyze the effect of short education program among secondary school students on breastfeeding knowledge and intentions. Design/methodology/approach: Total of 106 female and 155 male students from four different high schools in Bjelovar were given online questionnaire about intentions to breastfeed and test of knowledge about breastfeeding, both before and shortly after education. The effect of education and school on breastfeeding intentions and knowledge was examined using mixed design ANOVA. Univariate tests were used to examine relation of several independent variables to breastfeeding intention and knowledge scores before and after education. Findings: Results showed statistically significant effect of education on both intentions and knowledge, whereas the effect of school was significant only for intentions. Students show more positive intentions and better knowledge about breastfeeding after education than before education. Research limitations/implications: This paper does not entail validation of breastfeeding questionnaire and knowledge test. Due to comprehensiveness and report length, study on validity and reliability of measures is the subject of another paper. Practical implications: The authors hope that results of the study will influence professional public in Croatia and encourage it to support implementation of breastfeeding education in curriculum. Originality/value: This paper offers the first national intervention data in relation to breastfeeding intentions and knowledge among secondary school students. It provides an evidence for necessity of implementation of well-structured education module in regular curriculum of secondary education in Croatia.