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377697

Knowledge Attitude and Practices of Mothers and Medical Staff towards Breastfeeding during the COVID-19 Crisis

Article

Last updated: 28 Dec 2024

Subjects

-

Tags

Applied and Basic Science.

Abstract

Background: The COVID-19 crises caused increased stress, staff deployment and conflicting policies with regards breastfeeding. The extent to which such factors influenced early feeding practices is poorly understood. Objective: To investigate the knowledge, attitudes, and practices (KAP) of women and health providers towards continuation of exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) during the COVID crisis. Subjects and Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 400 breastfeeding mothers and 300 health providers in Benha City as an after-effect to this crisis. Data were collected through interviewer-administered structured questionnaires covering demographics, knowledge, attitudes, and practices, and statistically analysed. Results: The mean age of mothers was 28±5 years. Most mothers resided in rural areas (60%) and had high education levels (75.5%). About 62.5% were familiar with EBF, and 68.3% identified six months as the recommended EBF duration. Opinions on breastfeeding during COVID-19 varied: 34% knew breast-milk protected against COVID infection, while 56.5% disagreed with stopping breastfeeding due to infection with COVID. Urban residents had KAP about vaccination against COVID-19 and better hygiene practices. Health providers were less likely to encourage continuation of breastfeeding especially for admissions to neonatal units. Logistic regression revealed that each additional year of mother's age reduced the risk of not EBF by 10% (OR = 0.897, 95% CI = 0.843 – 0.954, P = 0.001), and being a working mother reduced this risk by 43% (OR = 0.575, 95% CI = 0.349 – 0.946, P = 0.029). Conclusion: COVID-19 crises affected early feeding practices to some extent.

DOI

10.21608/bjas.2024.315363.1478

Keywords

Knowledge, Attitude, Practices, Exclusive breast feeding, COVID-19

Authors

First Name

Azza

Last Name

Abul-Fadl

MiddleName

Mohamed

Affiliation

Professor of Pediatrics Faculty of Medicine - Benha University

Email

azzamohamed@gmail.com

City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

Rania

Last Name

Abdelatty

MiddleName

Ebrahim

Affiliation

Lecturer of Pediatrics Faculty of Medicine - Benha University

Email

raniaebrahim@gmail.com

City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

Basma

Last Name

Hani

MiddleName

Mohamed

Affiliation

Lecturer of Public Health Faculty of Medicine - Benha University

Email

basmamohamed@gmail.com

City

-

Orcid

-

First Name

Sarah

Last Name

Ibrahim

MiddleName

Mohamed

Affiliation

(M.B.B.CH)

Email

future.dr2010s@gmail.com

City

-

Orcid

-

Volume

9

Article Issue

8

Related Issue

50150

Issue Date

2024-08-01

Receive Date

2024-08-03

Publish Date

2024-08-30

Page Start

59

Page End

71

Print ISSN

2356-9751

Online ISSN

2356-976X

Link

https://bjas.journals.ekb.eg/article_377697.html

Detail API

https://bjas.journals.ekb.eg/service?article_code=377697

Order

9

Type

Original Research Papers

Type Code

1,647

Publication Type

Journal

Publication Title

Benha Journal of Applied Sciences

Publication Link

https://bjas.journals.ekb.eg/

MainTitle

Knowledge Attitude and Practices of Mothers and Medical Staff towards Breastfeeding during the COVID-19 Crisis

Details

Type

Article

Created At

28 Dec 2024