Effectiveness of a Health Literacy-Based Breastfeeding Education Program

Summary

This study aims to evaluate the effects of a comprehensive breastfeeding education program based on a health literacy development strategy on maternal and paternal breastfeeding self-efficacy, fathers' breastfeeding support, parental health literacy, and breastfeeding outcomes. The sustainability of breastfeeding depends not only on maternal knowledge and skills but also on social support mechanisms and parents' ability to access, understand, evaluate, and use health-related information. Fathers play a crucial role in supporting breastfeeding, yet studies incorporating both fathers and health literacy-based educational strategies remain limited. Therefore, this randomized controlled trial was designed to determine whether a structured breastfeeding education program delivered to both mothers and fathers, in addition to routine postpartum care, improves maternal and paternal breastfeeding self-efficacy, fathers' breastfeeding support, parental health literacy, and breastfeeding outcomes.

This study sought to answer the following questions:

1. Does breastfeeding education based on a health literacy development strategy affect parents' breastfeeding self-efficacy?
2. Does breastfeeding education based on a health literacy development strategy affect fathers' breastfeeding support?
3. Does breastfeeding education based on a health literacy development strategy affect breastfeeding outcomes? If so, what is the nature of this effect?
4. Does breastfeeding education based on a health literacy development strategy affect the health literacy levels of mothers and fathers?

Conditions

• Breastfeeding

Interventions

OTHER

Routine postpartum breastfeeding care

Breastfeeding is initiated by nurses or midwives in the hospital within the first hour after birth at most. General information about breastfeeding and breastfeeding is given to the patient for approximately 10 minutes. Afterwards, care is provided in the form of answering the patient's questions, if any.

OTHER

Experimental

In this study, a breastfeeding education program was prepared based on the "Integrated Health Literacy Model" that combines the processes of accessing, understanding, appraising, and applying health information. The intervention consisted of a 25-30 minute face-to-face education given by the researcher in the hospital within the first 24 hours after birth. At the end of the training, written material was presented and directions were provided to reliable online resources. In order to support the intervention, telephone counseling was provided in the first week after birth and the La Leche League Turkey article "Breastfeeding Myths" was shared via WhatsApp. On the 15th day, a telephone call was made again to evaluate current experiences and send short support messages. In the first month, information was provided about the TEMAS Association's article "Breastfeeding Volunteer, Mothers Have Something to Say" and the "Tuesday Swings" support activities.

Sponsors & Collaborators

• Nigde Omer Halisdemir University

  lead OTHER

Principal Investigators

• Ozlem ASCI, PhD · Nigde Omer Halisdemir University

Study Design

Allocation

RANDOMIZED

Purpose

SUPPORTIVE_CARE

Masking

SINGLE

Model

PARALLEL

Eligibility

Min Age

18 Years

Max Age

65 Years

Sex

ALL

Healthy Volunteers

Yes

Timeline & Regulatory

Start

2025-10-13

Primary Completion

2026-05-18

Completion

2026-05-18

Countries

• Turkey (Türkiye)

Study Locations