Effectiveness of a pilot church-based intervention to improve breastfeeding knowledge and intention of young women in Nigeria

Abstract

Background
Breastfeeding remains suboptimum despite its known benefits for child health, growth, and development. Prospective parents, including young adults, play a vital role in shaping breastfeeding practices, yet a significant proportion have poor breastfeeding knowledge and intentions.
Objective
This pilot quasi-experimental study aimed at assessing the effectiveness of breastfeeding education in improving breastfeeding knowledge and intention of young women through church-based intervention.
Methods
Women 19-24 years of age were assigned to intervention (n=9) and comparison (n=12) groups. Intervention participants received a two-day participatory breastfeeding education with emphasis on biblical perspectives on breastfeeding, while the comparison participants were engaged in a board game unrelated to breastfeeding. Breastfeeding knowledge and breastfeeding intentions were assessed pre and post-intervention. Data were analyzed with descriptive and inferential statistics.
Results
The results show that breastfeeding knowledge increased from 33% to 100% in the intervention group, while there was a marginal increment (from 33 to 42%) in the proportion of participants with adequate breastfeeding knowledge was observed in the comparison group. Improvement was also observed in the proportion with breastfeeding intentions in the intervention group from 44% to 100%, with a small increase from 33% to 42% in the comparison group.
Conclusions
These data suggest that targeted faith-based nutrition education could be effective in improving breastfeeding knowledge and intentions of young women. It serves as a basis for further research using a randomized controlled design with an expanded sample size and longer intervention period.