Enhancement of midwives' and child healthcare nurses' attitudes towards the WHO's recommendations following breastfeeding training: A quasi-experimental study.

ObjectiveThis study aimed to assess healthcare professionals' attitudes towards breastfeeding, in line with the WHO guidelines, before and after a breastfeeding intervention in Sweden.MethodsA quasi-experimental, prospective, longitudinal before-and-after design with a control group was used. Data were collected between 2020 and 2021. The sample included 26 midwives and child healthcare nurses in the intervention group, and 18 in the control group, all working in antenatal and child healthcare centres. The intervention group received breastfeeding training based on the WHO recommendations. The 15-item Healthcare Professionals' Attitudes instrument was used to measure attitudes.ResultsThe intervention improved attitudes on nine of the 15 questions immediately post-training, with effects maintained at one-year. The largest change was for the item: 'It is appropriate for infants to wait until they are six months old before tasting samples' (p = 0.000). At follow-up, five items differed significantly between groups: 'Infants can have commercial milk formula in the evening if they breastfeed frequently at night' (p = 0.002), 'It is inappropriate for a mother to breastfeed a one-year-old in a restaurant' (p = 0.017), 'It is appropriate for infants to breastfeed every three hours' (p = 0.020), 'When a mother has bleeding nipples, it is appropriate to inform her that formula is acceptable' (p = 0.023), and 'It is important for infants to have uninterrupted sleep at night' (p = 0.047).ConclusionThe breastfeeding training programme improved healthcare professionals' attitudes towards breastfeeding, with positive effects sustained one year following the intervention.