Effect of mothers' social support perception during postnatal period on breastfeedingself-efficacy perception

Effect of Mothers' Social Support Perception During Postnatal Period on Breastfeedingself-Efficacy Perception This study was conducted during postnatal period of women, who had gone to a training hospital in İzmir for delivery, to observe effect of their social support perception on their breastfeeding self-efficacy perception. Universe of the study consisted of women, who had gone to a special University Hospital in the province of İzmir, while its sampling consisted of women, who had gone to the hospital between the relevant dates and consented to be included in the study (n=200). Data of the study were collected between the dates of February 2016 – June 2016. Women, who had gone to a training a special University Hospital in the province of İzmir, are literate, completed full term, have healthy baby, breastfeeding and consented to be included in the study, were included in the study. Data collection tool was Individual Recognition Form, the Multidimensional Perceived Social Support Scale and the Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Scale. They were used during face-to-face interviews. The obtained data were evaluated by using number, percentage, Kruskal-Wallis single-way variance analysis, Mann-Whitney U test and Spearson Correlation Analysis. In our study Multidimensional Perceived Social Support Scala score of the mothers' mean was found as 73.35±12.01, while Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Scale score mean of the mothers' was found as 59.11±8.18. It was observed a statistically significant variance between mothers' education status, the place in which families live in and Multidimensional Perceived Social Support Scale score means (p<0.05). It was observed a statistically significant variance between the mothers' education status, the place in which families live and the state of being informed about breastfeeding and Multidimensional Perceived Social Support Scale 'Special Human Support' subscale score mean (p<0.05). It was observed a statistically significant variance between the place in which families live in postnatal period and the state of being informed about breastfeeding and Multidimensional Perceived Social Support 'Family Support' subscale score mean (p<0.05). It was observed a statistically significant variance between the place in which families live in postnatal period and the state of being informed about breastfeeding and Multidimensional Perceived Social Support 'Friend Support' subscale score mean (p<0.05). It was observed a statistically significant variance between mothers' education status, number of births, breastfeeding status and age of fathers and their education status and Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Scale score means (p<0.05). The correlation analysis, which was conducted between score mean of the scale for mothers' postpartum breastfeeding self-efficacy and score mean of the scale for perceived social support, unveiled a statistically significant correlation in the positive direction at weak level. Key words: Perceived Social Support, Self-efficacy, Breastfeeding self-efficacy.