The Knowledge and Opinions About Breastfeeding of Turkish Fathers

Yıl 2025, Cilt: 8 Sayı: 2, 221 - 230, 22.08.2025

Hale Uyar Hazar , Dilan Gökay

https://doi.org/10.54189/hbd.1582218

Öz

Objective: The aim of this study was to determine the knowledge and opinions about breastfeeding of Turkish fathers.
Methods: The study was an analytical cross-sectional study conducted between January and June 2019 with 340 fathers at the obstetrics clinic of a Hospital in Aydın, Turkey. A Descriptive Information Form and a Checklist to Identify Knowledge and Opinions of Fathers about Breastfeeding were used in the collection of data. The analysis of the data was carried out with the Kolmogorov-Smirnov test, descriptive statistics, Z and χ² values, the Mann Whitney-U test, Kruskal-Wallis test, and Spearman’s correlation analysis test (p<0,05).
Results: The mean age of the fathers was 31.10±5.87 (min=17, max=54); the mean score for knowledge and opinions about breastfeeding was 22.20±3.33 (min=8, max=34). The highest score the fathers displayed in terms of correct answers to the questions on their knowledge and opinions was 91.8% in “When my wife starts to breastfeed, I do things to make her comfortable such as giving her pillows or a glass of water” and in terms of wrong answers, 73.2% in “Breastfeeding does not affect a mother’s work”. Accordingly, it was found that the correlation between the knowledge and opinions of fathers mean score and the father’s age was noticeably high (r=0.99, p=0.67), but that the same correlation was weak in terms of duration of marriage (r=0.26, p=0.629).
Conclusion: The knowledge and opinions of fathers about breastfeeding score was at a moderate level, and age was found to have an effect on fathers’ knowledge and opinions on breastfeeding. Providing knowledge and opinions about breastfeeding of fathers through a ‘father-friendly breastfeeding approach’ could improve long-term exclusive breastfeeding rates, but more studies, perhaps multicenter and with longer follow-up periods, are needed to confirm this hypothesis.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Breastfeeding , Fathers , Midwifery , Nursing

Etik Beyan

The research received ethical approval from the Aydın Adnan Menderes University Faculty of Health Sciences Non-interventional Clinical Studies Ethics Committee (92340882-050.04.04, Decision 63). The permission was also obtained from the Aydın Obstetrics, Gynecology and Pediatrics Hospital administration for data collection and the fathers who were recruited into the sample were asked to provide their consent after they had been informed about the nature of the study.

Destekleyen Kurum

No support was received from any institution for this study.

Teşekkür

This study was conducted as an individual work at Aydın Provincial Obstetrics, Gynecology and Pediatrics Hospital. We thank all of the fathers as well as the administrators and employees of the hospital for their contributions to this research.

Türk Babaların Emzirme Konusundaki Bilgi ve Görüşleri

Öz

Amaç: Bu çalışmanın amacı Türk babaların emzirme konusundaki bilgi ve görüşlerini belirlemektir.
Yöntem: Analitik Kesitsel tipte olan bu araştırma, Aydın, Türkiye’de bir hastanenin obstetri kliniğinde 340 baba ile yürütüldü. Verilerin toplanmasında Tanıtıcı Bilgi Formu, Babaların Emzirmeye Yönelik Düşüncelerini Belirleyen Kontrol Listesi kullanıldı. Verilerin analizi Kolmogorov-Smirnov testi, tanımlayıcı istatistikler, Z ve χ2 değerleri, Mann Whitney-U testi, Kruskal-Wallis testi ve Spearman korelasyon analizleri kullanıldı (p<0,05).
Bulgular: Babaların yaş ortalaması 31,10±5,87 (min=17, maks=54), emzirmeye yönelik bilgi ve düşünce puanı ortalaması 22,20±3,33 (min=8, maks=34)’dir. Babaların emzirmeye yönelik bilgi ve görüşlere verdikleri doğru cevaplardan aldıkları en yüksek puan; %91,8 ile “eşim emzirmeye başladığında rahatlatmak için ona yastık verme, bir bardak su getirme gibi şeyler yaparım” sorusunda ve yanlış cevaplardan aldıkları en yüksek puan; %73,2 ile “emzirmek annenin çalışmasını etkilemez” sorusunda bulundu. Buna göre babaların emzirmeye yönelik bilgi ve görüş ortalaması ile yaş arasındaki ilişkinin çok yüksek olduğu (r=0,99, p=0,67), ancak evlilik süresi açısından aynı ilişkinin zayıf olduğu (r=0,26, p=0,629) bulundu.
Sonuç: Babaların emzirmeye yönelik bilgi ve görüşleri orta düzeydeydi ve yaşın babaların emzirme hakkındaki bilgi ve görüşleri üzerinde etkisi olduğu görüldü. Babaların ‘baba dostu emzirme yaklaşımı’ ile emzirme konusundaki bilgi ve görüşlerini artırmak uzun vadeli yalnızca emzirme oranlarını iyileştirebilir, ancak bu hipotezi doğrulamak için daha fazla, belki çok merkezli ve uzun bir takip süresine sahip çalışmalara ihtiyaç vardır.

Anahtar Kelimeler

Babalar , Ebelik , Emzirme , Hemşirelik

Etik Beyan

The research received ethical approval from the Aydın Adnan Menderes University Faculty of Health Sciences Non-interventional Clinical Studies Ethics Committee (92340882-050.04.04, Decision 63). The permission was also obtained from the Aydın Obstetrics, Gynecology and Pediatrics Hospital administration for data collection and the fathers who were recruited into the sample were asked to provide their consent after they had been informed about the nature of the study.

Destekleyen Kurum

No support was received from any institution for this study.

Teşekkür

This study was conducted as an individual work at Aydın Provincial Obstetrics, Gynecology and Pediatrics Hospital. We thank all of the fathers as well as the administrators and employees of the hospital for their contributions to this research.

Kaynakça

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