The relationship between fathers' attitudes and participation towards breastfeeding and breastfeeding self-efficacy of primiparous adolescent mothers

AIM: The research is a cross-sectional study conducted to evaluate the relationship between fathers' attitudes and participation in breastfeeding and breastfeeding self-efficacy of primiparous adolescent mothers. Material and Methods: The study included a total of 256 participants, of whom 128 were adolescent primiparous mothers visiting a pediatrics outpatient clinic in a state hospital in the south east region of Turkey between 1 April and 30 June in 2022 and 128 were their spouses. Data were collected face-to-face with a fathers' characteristics form, a mothers' characteristics form, Fathers' Attitudes to Breastfeeding Scale, Fathers' Involvement in Breastfeeding Scale and the Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Scale by ensuring privacy of the participants. Obtained data were analyzed with t-test, ANOVA and post hoc. Results: Of all the mothers, 58.6% were secondary school graduates, 57% had an extended family and 46.1% lived in a village. All the mothers were married and 64.1% were legally married. Of all the spouses, 46.9% were aged 23-27 years, 50.8% were high school graduates and 86.7% had a paid job. The mean score on fathers' attitudes to breastfeeding was 47.50 (SD=10.01). This showed that the fathers had a negative attitude. The mean score on fathers' involvement in breastfeeding was 47.20 (SD=11.40). This revealed that their involvement was limited. Conclusion: According to the results of the study, fathers' breastfeeding attitude and participation in breastfeeding increase the breastfeeding self-efficacy of primipar adolescent mothers. Therefore, it is important to support the father's participation in breastfeeding.