Effects of the Delivery Type on the Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Perception

Background: Breastfeeding self-efficacy is defined as the moth er's perception that her milk supply is adequate. The stronger the sense of self-efficacy is the grea te the mother's effort, insistence and strength to breastfeed is. Aim: In the present study, it was aimed to determine th e perception of breastfeeding self-efficacy among w omen in the early postpartum period according to the del ivery type. Methods: This descriptive study was conducted between March 2018 and May 2018 in two hospitals located in the city center of Antalya, a province on the Medit rranean cost of Turkey. The population of the stud y consisted of 254 postpartum women who gave birth between the aforementioned dates in the aforementioned hospital . The study data were collected with the ''Personal I formation Form'' and ''Breastfeeding Self-Efficacy Scale'' (BSES). In the analysis, in addition to the descrip tive statistics, nonparametric tests (Kolomogorov-S mirnov, p<0.05) were used because numerical variables were not distributed normally. Results: The mean age of the participating mothers was 27.9 2 ± 3.91 years, the mean number of pregnancies was 1.96 ± 1.00, the mean number of childbirths was 1.83 ± 0.84, the number of living children was 1.7 4 ± 0.79 and the mean baby birth weight was 3148.66 ± 274.28 gr. Conclusions: In this descriptive study conducted to assess brea stfeeding self-efficacy of women in the early postpartum period, it was determined that of the so cio-demographic characteristics, educational status , employment status and economic status, and of the p regnancy characteristics, prenatal care status, tim e of first breastfeeding and the currently preferred feeding m ethod affected the mothers’ self-efficacy.