{"title":"Developing an Instrument to Measure Public Health Nurses' Competence Related to Breastfeeding Beyond 12 Months.","authors":"Niina Pöyhönen, Oona Ojantausta, Marja Kaunonen, Katri Vehviläinen-Julkunen, Riikka Ikonen","doi":"10.1177/08903344241254343","DOIUrl":null,"url":null,"abstract":"<p><strong>Background: </strong>Health professionals need adequate competence to support breastfeeding beyond infancy. There is no established instrument to measure health professionals' competence regarding long-term breastfeeding. To respond to this shortcoming, the Long-Term Breastfeeding Competence Scale (LBCS) was developed.</p><p><strong>Research aim: </strong>To develop and pilot an instrument that measures public health nurses' competence related to breastfeeding beyond 12 months in order to provide adequate breastfeeding counseling for families.</p><p><strong>Methods: </strong>This study was conducted as a cross-sectional online survey on public health nurses working in maternity and/or child health clinics. The relevance and clarity of the LBCS were assessed by an expert panel (<i>N</i> = 6). Public health nurses (<i>N</i> = 197) completed the LBCS, which consisted of a knowledge and skills dimension and an attitude dimension. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the characteristics of the study sample. The conceptual validity of the knowledge and skills dimension was assessed using the dichotomous Rasch analysis, and attitude dimension using the exploratory factor analysis. Internal consistency was evaluated using Cronbach's alpha. The distribution of the items was summarized by descriptive statistics.</p><p><strong>Results: </strong>According to expert panel evaluations, the LBCS was found to meet the requirements for relevance and clarity (S-CVI 0.90). The internal consistency of the instrument was at a good level (<i>α</i> = 0.796) and met the requirements set for a new instrument.</p><p><strong>Conclusion: </strong>The LBCS is appropriate to determine public health nurses' competence related to breastfeeding beyond 12 months. The LBCS can be used to identify the need for education concerning breastfeeding beyond 12 months.</p>","PeriodicalId":15948,"journal":{"name":"Journal of Human Lactation","volume":" ","pages":"434-444"},"PeriodicalIF":2.1000,"publicationDate":"2024-08-01","publicationTypes":"Journal Article","fieldsOfStudy":null,"isOpenAccess":false,"openAccessPdf":"https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC11340241/pdf/","citationCount":"0","resultStr":null,"platform":"Semanticscholar","paperid":null,"PeriodicalName":"Journal of Human Lactation","FirstCategoryId":"3","ListUrlMain":"https://doi.org/10.1177/08903344241254343","RegionNum":4,"RegionCategory":"医学","ArticlePicture":[],"TitleCN":null,"AbstractTextCN":null,"PMCID":null,"EPubDate":"2024/5/29 0:00:00","PubModel":"Epub","JCR":"Q2","JCRName":"NURSING","Score":null,"Total":0}
引用次数: 0
Abstract
Background: Health professionals need adequate competence to support breastfeeding beyond infancy. There is no established instrument to measure health professionals' competence regarding long-term breastfeeding. To respond to this shortcoming, the Long-Term Breastfeeding Competence Scale (LBCS) was developed.
Research aim: To develop and pilot an instrument that measures public health nurses' competence related to breastfeeding beyond 12 months in order to provide adequate breastfeeding counseling for families.
Methods: This study was conducted as a cross-sectional online survey on public health nurses working in maternity and/or child health clinics. The relevance and clarity of the LBCS were assessed by an expert panel (N = 6). Public health nurses (N = 197) completed the LBCS, which consisted of a knowledge and skills dimension and an attitude dimension. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the characteristics of the study sample. The conceptual validity of the knowledge and skills dimension was assessed using the dichotomous Rasch analysis, and attitude dimension using the exploratory factor analysis. Internal consistency was evaluated using Cronbach's alpha. The distribution of the items was summarized by descriptive statistics.
Results: According to expert panel evaluations, the LBCS was found to meet the requirements for relevance and clarity (S-CVI 0.90). The internal consistency of the instrument was at a good level (α = 0.796) and met the requirements set for a new instrument.
Conclusion: The LBCS is appropriate to determine public health nurses' competence related to breastfeeding beyond 12 months. The LBCS can be used to identify the need for education concerning breastfeeding beyond 12 months.
期刊介绍:
Committed to the promotion of diversity and equity in all our policies and practices, our aims are:
To provide our readers and the international communities of clinicians, educators and scholars working in the field of lactation with current and quality-based evidence, from a broad array of disciplines, including the medical sciences, basic sciences, social sciences and the humanities.
To provide student and novice researchers, as well as, researchers whose native language is not English, with expert editorial guidance while preparing their work for publication in JHL.
In each issue, the Journal of Human Lactation publishes original research, original theoretical and conceptual articles, discussions of policy and practice issues, and the following special features:
Advocacy: A column that discusses a ‘hot’ topic in lactation advocacy
About Research: A column focused on an in-depth discussion of a different research topic each issue
Lactation Newsmakers: An interview with a widely-recognized outstanding expert in the field from around the globe
Research Commentary: A brief discussion of the issues raised in a specific research article published in the current issue
Book review(s): Reviews written by content experts about relevant new publications
International News Briefs: From major international lactation organizations.