Effects of fathers e-health literacy level on breastfeeding

The research was conducted as descriptive, correlational and cross-sectional in order to determine the effect of e-health literacy levels of fathers who have babies between 0-24 months of age on breastfeeding at Karadeniz Technical University Application and Research Center Farabi Hospital. The research was conducted between June 1, 2022 and September 30, 2022, with 216 fathers who applied to the general pediatric clinic, newborn and well-child clinic, and pediatric blood collection units and met the research criteria. The data of the study were collected using the "Socio-Demographic Data Collection Form", "E Health Literacy Scale" and "Fathers' Effect on Breastfeeding Scale". Frequency and percentage were used to evaluate the data and determine the descriptive characteristics of the participants in the study, and mean and standard deviation were used to examine the scale. Pearson correlation and linear regression were used to analyze the relationships between fathers' levels of e-health literacy and fathers' influence on breastfeeding and the dimensions. T-test, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) and post hoc (Tukey, LSD) analyzes were used to determine the differences in the descriptive characteristics of the fathers and the scale levels. In our research, Cohen(d) and Eta square (η2) coefficients were used as reference to evaluate the effect size. It was determined that 41.2% of the fathers participating in the research were between the ages of 31-35, 56.5% had a college education or higher, and 96.3% were employed. It was determined that 45.8% of the fathers had one child, the ages of 44.9% of their children were between 0-6 months and the average age was 8.933±6.492 (Min=1; Max=24). Fathers' E-health literacy scale mean score was found to be 28.014±7.237 (Min=8; Max=40) and the mean score on its effect on breastfeeding was 133.560±27.273 (Min=49; Max=178). A positive correlation of r=0.23, very weak (p=0.000<0.05), was found between the total score averages of fathers' influence on breastfeeding and the total scores of e-health literacy. Fathers' e-health literacy alone increases breastfeeding by 5.2%. As a result, it was determined that as fathers' e-health literacy level increased, their effect on breastfeeding their babies increased.