Investigation of mindful breastfeeding and breastfeeding self-efficacy of mothers with their infants in the neonatal intensive care unit

The research was conducted in a descriptive-correlational type to examine the awareness of breastfeeding and breastfeeding self-efficacy of mothers with babies in the neonatal intensive care unit and to reveal the relationship between them. The research population consisted of 91 mothers in the "Newborn Intensive Care Unit Mother-Baby Adaptation Service" of Etlik Zübeyde Hanım Gynecology Training and Research Hospital and Etlik City Hospital's Gynecology Hospital in Ankara. Personal Information Form, Mindful Breastfeeding Scale and Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Scale were used to collect research data. Data analysis was performed using IBM SPSS 25 software. The data were evaluated using the Shapiro-Wilk test, Mann-Whitney U test, Kruskal-Wallis test, and Post Hoc Bonferroni test. The median Mindful Breastfeeding Scale score of the mothers participating in the study was 43.00, and the Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Scale median score was 59.00. A statistically significant difference was found between the duration of breastfeeding of mothers' previous baby/babies and the Mindful Breastfeeding Scale, between the economic status of the family and both the Mindful Breastfeeding Scale and the Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Scale, and between the mother's evaluation of her breastfeeding success and the total scores of both the Mindful Breastfeeding Scale and the Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Scale. In line with the research results, it is recommended that nurses undertake initiatives to help mothers continue breastfeeding and expressing milk in order to increase their breastfeeding mindfulness and self-efficacy.