Project Materials

EFFECT OF NURSING-BASED INTERVENTION ON EXCLUSIVE BREASTFEEDING PRACTICE AMONG PREGNANT WOMEN ATTENDING TWO PRIMARY HEALTH CARE CENTERS

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1.0 Background of the Study 

To achieve exclusivity among women, it is essential to provide nurse-based interventions, such as breastfeeding-readiness instruction, during antenatal visits. For the first six months and for the next two years, all nursing moms should exclusively breastfeed their children.

Despite breastfeeding’s benefits in terms of nutrition, finances, immunity, and psychology, its awareness and application seem to be below suggested levels.

A child’s susceptibility to communicable infections is increased when they refuse to nurse extensively; yet, for every additional month of exclusive breastfeeding, 30.1% of hospitalisations due to infection may have been avoided. Exclusive breastfeeding may avoid 27% of lower respiratory tract infections and 53% of hospitalisations for diarrhoea per month.

According to studies, exclusive breastfeeding is not as common as the WHO recommends. The World Health Organisation recommends 90% universal coverage for exclusive breastfeeding in order to prevent 13–15% of the 9 million deaths of children under five that occur each year in low- and middle-income nations.

Between 2000 and 2007, 38% of newborns under six months old worldwide were solely breastfed; in West and Central Africa, 23% of these infants were exclusively breastfed, compared to 26% in the Middle East and North Africa.

The incidence was 39% in South Asia, 43% in East Asia and the Pacific, and 44% in Eastern and Southern Africa. According to a study conducted in England, just 25% of newborns are exclusively breastfed for 6 to 8 weeks after delivery, and 16% of moms continue to breastfeed for three to five months.

Just 13% of infants under six months old in Nigeria are exclusively breastfed, making exclusive breastfeeding rare. In Nigeria, 15.1% of infants under six months old were breastfed exclusively between 2000 and 2012. According to a study conducted in Nigeria, just 19% of nursing moms engaged in exclusive practice.

These show a high incidence and prevalence of inadequate exclusive breastfeeding, which could be brought on by pregnant women’s lack of awareness and practice in this area.

In order to create effective breastfeeding practices, nursing-based interventions are crucial. Breastfeeding education is a nursing intervention that helps improve the early initiation and persistence of breastfeeding during the first two months of life.

Promoting exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of a newborn’s life is one of the most effective strategies for lowering infant morbidity and death in environments with limited resources.

The most common, healthiest, easiest, and least expensive method of providing for a child’s nutritional needs is breast milk. In order to raise awareness, educate the public, and help mothers and their infants in achieving exclusivity, nurses’ knowledge, skills, and counsel are crucial.

Nursing intervention programs, which educate mothers about the financial advantages of exclusive breastfeeding, are an important way to address some of the difficulties associated with breastfeeding practice.

Pregnant women’s awareness and practice of exclusive breastfeeding have been lacking, despite health education and training on the topic. These point to a serious issue.

Similarly, the researcher’s clinical experience has shown that pregnant women who attend antenatal clinics have a high incidence and prevalence of low exclusive breastfeeding.

These could be explained by pregnant women’s lack of awareness and practice about exclusive breastfeeding. Given that no prior quasi-experimental study combined the lecture and demonstration method, these could possibly be ascribed to a gap in the kind of training or information provided to expectant mothers regarding exclusive breastfeeding.

A nursing-based intervention’s impact on exclusive breastfeeding among expectant mothers attending an antenatal clinic in Ikenne Local Government area, Ogun State, Nigeria, must therefore be assessed.

1.2 Statement Of The Problem

In order to reverse the plummeting breastfeeding rate, WHO, UNICEF, USAID, and SIDA co-hosted and supported the Innocenti Declaration in the 1990s. Despite the acknowledged benefits of breastfeeding, the available data indicates that less than 40% of infants under six months of age are exclusively breastfed worldwide, despite the strenuous efforts. Furthermore, in the poor world, including Africa, only 38% of infants under six months old are exclusively breastfed.

In Nigeria, as in many other sub-Saharan African nations, nursing has been a significant part of newborn nutrition; nevertheless, exclusive breastfeeding is not practiced well. Only 13% of nursing moms in Nigeria currently practise exclusive breastfeeding, down from 17% reported in the National Demographic Health Survey (NDHS, 2008) and Multiple Indicator Cluster Survey (MICS, 2007) data. This is significantly less than the 90% threshold that the WHO recommends.

About 40% of the 11 million under-2 deaths that occur each year have been linked to malnutrition, and an additional 1.5 million are thought to be caused by delayed and insufficient nursing throughout infancy.

According to available data, chronic disease and poor diet cause 175 million stunted children, 150 million underweight children, and a third of malnourished children in underdeveloped nations.

According to the 2003 National Demographic and Health Survey (NDHS), 29% of Nigerian children under two are underweight, 40% are stunted, and nearly 10% are wasted.

Malnutrition is becoming more widely acknowledged as a serious and widespread health issue, particularly in poor nations. This issue negatively impacts the child’s development and has major long-term effects.

Numerous socioeconomic, cultural, and belief factors, including unfavourable hospital practices, unemployment, a lack of support for nursing mothers, perceived lactational insufficiency, illiteracy, and ignorance of the advantages of exclusive breastfeeding, all contribute to the poor practice of exclusive breastfeeding in Nigeria.

Other factors include negative cultural customs, opposition to change, fear of maternal depletion syndrome, urbanisation, working mothers, unprofessional attitudes of medical professionals, attitudes regarding the use of colostrum and sexual behaviour during breastfeeding, and aggressive marketing and promotion of alternatives to breast milk.

In light of the aforementioned data and limitations, this project aims to determine the knowledge, attitudes, and practices of mothers in the Ikenne Local Government Area regarding exclusive breastfeeding in order to raise awareness of the benefits of this practice, the anthropometric evaluation of their children under two, and the relationship between exclusive breastfeeding practices and infant anthropometry.

1.3 The Objectives of the Study

This study’s primary goal is to assess how a nursing-based intervention affects pregnant women who visit prenatal clinics in terms of exclusive breastfeeding. The particular goals are to:

1. To evaluate the Ikenne Local Government Area, Ogun State, women of childbearing age’s understanding of exclusive breastfeeding.

2. To evaluate the views of childbearing women in Ogun State’s Ikenne Local Government Area about exclusive breastfeeding

3. To evaluate the exclusive breastfeeding practices of children under two in Ogun State’s Ikenne Local Government Area.

4. To evaluate the association between the anthropometric status of children in Ikenne Local Government Area, Ogun State, and nurse-based interventions centred on exclusive breastfeeding.

1.4 Research Questions

1. How much do people in Ogun State’s Ikenne Local Government Area know about exclusive breastfeeding?

2. How do moms in Ogun State’s Ikenne Local Government Area feel about exclusive breastfeeding?

3. How common is exclusive breastfeeding in Ogun State’s Ikenne Local Government Area?

4. Do anthropometric measurements and exclusive breastfeeding practices differ significantly between Navy Town Hospital in Ojo, Ogun State?

1.5 significance Of The Study

The significance of the study is that:

1. The study will significantly improve the understanding, attitude, and practice rate of exclusive breastfeeding in Ogun State and Navy town Ojo. This could be accomplished by assisting health professionals in Ojo Town and Ogun State as a whole in understanding where and how to direct their educational initiatives.

2. If suitable intervention techniques are implemented, lower the infant/child mortality rate from diarrhoea and other infectious diseases.

3. In order to reduce maternal and under-five mortality in the state and meet the 2015 Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) 4 and 5, the study will also assist the government in putting her policies into action.

4. It will also act as a roadmap for future research, whether it be to improve upon previously completed work or for other purposes.

1.6 Theory

Ho1: Knowledge and practice of nurse-based interventions for exclusive breastfeeding do not significantly correlate.

1.6 The Scope of the Study

Using one secondary healthcare facility and two primary healthcare facilities, the study examined the impact of a nursing-based intervention on exclusive breastfeeding among expectant mothers attending prenatal clinics.