Predictors of Prenatal Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy in Expectant Mothers with Gestational Diabetes Mellitus

Nada Alyousefi, Arwa Alemam, Dena Altwaijri, Sarah Alarifi and Haifa Alessa
Additional contact information
Nada Alyousefi: Department of Family and Community Medicine, College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Arwa Alemam: College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Dena Altwaijri: College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Sarah Alarifi: College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia
Haifa Alessa: College of Medicine, King Saud University, Riyadh 11451, Saudi Arabia

IJERPH, 2022, vol. 19, issue 7, 1-11

Abstract: Breastfeeding is beneficial for mothers with gestational diabetes mellitus (GDM). Saudi Arabia is considered one of the countries with the highest prevalence of GDM. Mothers with GDM have a low intention to breastfeed and are less likely to continue breastfeeding. This study aimed to measure breastfeeding self-efficacy among expectant mothers with GDM and quantify its determinants. This cross-sectional study recruited expectant mothers with GDM from an antenatal care clinic and queried them on breastfeeding knowledge and attitudes using the Arabic validated prenatal breastfeeding self-efficacy scale (PBSES). The study took place at the Medical City of King Saud University, during January–April 2021. The average PBSES score among 145 GDM Saudi participants was 64.07 ± 16.3. Higher academic level, previous satisfactory breastfeeding experiences, breastfeeding intention, six months or more breastfeeding experience, and health education were significantly positively correlated with PBSES score. A higher knowledge score was also correlated with a higher PBSES score ( p = 0.002). Longer breastfeeding duration (β.197, p = 0.036), satisfactory previous breastfeeding experience (β.218, p = 0.020), and higher knowledge score (β.259, p = 0.004) were significant predictors of a high PBSES score. Breastfeeding self-efficacy is low among expectant Saudi mothers with GDM, especially those with unsatisfactory previous experience or low knowledge scores. Establishing systematic education about breastfeeding during antenatal care is recommended to improve breastfeeding experience and improve GDM outcomes.

Keywords: breastfeeding; self-efficacy; diabetes; gestational; health education; maternal–child health services (search for similar items in EconPapers)
JEL-codes: I I1 I3 Q Q5 (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2022
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations:

Downloads: (external link)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/7/4115/pdf (application/pdf)
https://www.mdpi.com/1660-4601/19/7/4115/ (text/html)

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:gam:jijerp:v:19:y:2022:i:7:p:4115-:d:783538

Access Statistics for this article

IJERPH is currently edited by Ms. Jenna Liu

More articles in IJERPH from MDPI
Bibliographic data for series maintained by MDPI Indexing Manager ().