The effect of nurses' communication skills with Nulliparous mothers on exclusive breastfeeding: A Clinical Trial Study

Exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) in the first six months of life has many benefits for mother and newborn. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the effect of medical staff communication skills training on breastfeeding in nulliparous mothers. This is a clinical trial study. One hundred- seventy nulliparous pregnant women were selected from Vali-e-Asr Hospital of Tehran. The samples were divided into two groups of intervention (n=85) and control (n=85) by randomized blocks method. The intervention in this study was in the form of therapeutic communication training to the ten nurses in delivery emergency department ward on how to communicate with mothers. The Therapeutic communication skills training course consisted of four communication skills (Empathy skills, Interpersonal skills, Stress and emotional management). Chi-square test and analysis of variance were used to analyze the data and compare the groups. There was a significant difference between the two groups regarding the exclusive breastfeeding for 6 months (P=0.046).The frequency of exclusive breastfeeding in interventional group was higher than the control group (37.5% vs. 23.5%). At six months old, the babies in the study group grew more than the control group (8218.82 ± 2308.57 vs. 7442.23 ± 1923.27 gr, p=0.018) The professional therapeutic relationship of medical staff with the mothers led to an increase in exclusive breastfeeding and continuation of breastfeeding in the first 6 months of childbirth. It seems that breastfeeding is associated with the higher baby growth and lower use of formula feeding.