The purpose of the proposed project is to identify predictors of the decision to breast feed and compare them among White, African American, and Latina women. This is an exploratory project to develop hypotheses regarding racial/ethnic differences in predictors of breastfeeding, and their association with the known differences in breastfeeding rates.
The aims of this project are to: (1)Develop and pilot a cross-cultural measure of breastfeeding predictors. (2)Obtain preliminary data to study racial/ethnic variations in: social support for breastfeeding, mothers' beliefs about their breastfeeding abilities (self-efficacy), sources of information regarding infant feeding and infant care, perceived barriers to breastfeeding, and breastfeeding knowledge. Studying ethnic variations in infant feeding decision processes will provide insights to the observed racial/ethnic differences in breastfeeding. This information will give providers guidance for developing culturally appropriate interventions to promote breastfeeding and enhance infant health. We will develop and pilot a cross-sectional survey to study racial/ethnic variations in predictors of breastfeeding. Specifically, we will measure (1) social influences and support for breastfeeding, (2) self efficacy for breastfeeding, (3) sources of information regarding infant feeding and infant care, (4) perceived barriers to breastfeeding, and (5) breastfeeding knowledge. We will also study the association of these measures to breastfeeding, and whether the associations vary by race/ethnicity. The survey will be developed using in-depth qualitative interviews of a triethnic sample of pregnant women, and will be administered by mail and telephone to a larger triethnic population of women two weeks post-partum.
