Socio-Demographic, Knowledge, Attitude And Work Place Factors Influencing Exclusive Breastfeeding Practice By Employees In Maseno University, Kenya

ABSTRACT

Formal employment is a barrier to exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) as recommended by World Health Organization (WHO). National breastfeeding policy recommends workplace breastfeeding support for working women. These women may have been excluded by efforts to scale up EBF, not by design but because they are “special population group” who have been neglected by research, studies existing are old, up to date information lacks to inform programs. Currently, out of 2.56 million people in formal employment, a third are women and because they have been neglected we don’t know whether they have best practices in EBF. There is little scientific information to inform on challenges and successes women in formal employment face given there is only 3 months official maternity leave period. This study aimed to asses socio-demographic, knowledge, attitude and work place factors influencing EBF among women of varied socio-economic status with equal access to health information. Through a cross sectional study, 197 women from 6 cadres at Maseno University who had a child in the last five years were selected using purposive sampling. Data on; socio-demographic characteristics, EBF rate, knowledge and work place factors were collected using a questionnaire. Iowa Infant Feeding Attitude Scale was used to collect data on EBF attitude. Data on; socio-demographic factors, EBF rates, knowledge, attitude and work place factors was expressed as percentages. Logistic regression was used to determine relationship between EBF and: socio-demographic factors; knowledge and attitude as work place factors were presented as percentages. Study findings indicate that 42.6 % of women practiced EBF. 70.5 % had poor knowledge and all women had negative attitude towards EBF. 46.2 % continued breastfeeding due to staying closer to work place. 53.3 % discontinued breastfeeding due to lack of breastfeeding breaks/rooms. Knowledge was the only factor significantly associated to EBF. Those with good knowledge were 1.495 more likely to EBF than those with poor knowledge, OR=1.495 (0.763-2.931), P=0.014. Decision to EBF by women in formal employment does not depend on socio-demographic characteristics and EBF attitude. Women who continued to breastfeed after work resumptions did so from their own efforts and creative arrangements as there was no workplace support. In spite of the availability of health cover, employed women still have poor EBF knowledge and low EBF rate compared to other women in the general population. Like economically disadvantaged women, scale up of EBF among “special population group” need to go beyond policy issues to focussed interventions.

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