Evaluation of the knowledge, attitudes and perceptions of Gynecology healthcare professionals in Greece towards breastfeeding in order to improve the educational breastfeeding curriculum of Greek Obstetrics & Gynecology Departments

Abstract

Objectives: This study tried to investigate the knowledge level, attitudes and perceptions of healthcare professionals in Greece towards breastfeeding with a questionnaire focusing especially on various relative objectives. In fact, in this study of the knowledge, attitudes and practices of established Greek healthcare professionals in relation to breastfeeding, we evaluated 3 themes: the first one concerned their knowledge about breastfeeding, the second one concerned their attitudes and perceptions towards breastfeeding and the last one their breastfeeding education. Results: Over 70% of the participants supported that their level of knowledge about breastfeeding was moderate at best and could be further improved. A significant percentage (30%) lacked knowledge concerning the management of special breastfeeding scenarios such as mastitis development, Hepatitis B or HIV status or high fever appearance. However, despite admitting their low knowledge levels, almost half of the participants (n=150, 48.3%) stated that they were very confident concerning the management of any breastfeeding related issues in their everyday practice. Most participants had previous personal breastfeeding experience or at least are willing to do so in the future (themselves or their partners) (262 out of 312 respondents) with most of them aiming to breastfeed approximately for one year (39.1%). The same pattern was observed in terms of their recommendations regarding breastfeeding to other mothers regardless of their sex. Moreover, the vast majority was in favor of public breastfeeding (88.2%) and breastfeeding while returning to work (87.5%) despite the fact they considered that breastfeeding could become an obstacle for the social and professional obligations of mothers (70.3%). Most healthcare professionals admitted that they do not have the necessary time to properly inform mothers about the benefits of breastfeeding (186 out of 312 participants) while at the same time most of them acknowledged improper breastfeeding information as an important contributing factor for the low breastfeeding rates among Greek mothers (226 out of 312 participants). Finally, 251 out of 312 participants stated that although they had been taught the basic principles and theoretical background associated with breastfeeding by their departments, their education was lacking in didactic depth and their training in hands-on experience while the vast majority (88.8%) clearly underlined that there was definitely room for improvement in their education/training curriculum. Expert teams, well-organized educational programs and advanced computing could contribute to the personnel’s harmonization with the various breastfeeding objectives in order to create a “breastfeeding-friendly” social environment. Conclusions: This study revealed that although most Greek gynecology healthcare professionals have very positive attitudes towards breastfeeding, their breastfeeding knowledge was moderate at best and could be further improved. They had hardly received any formal breastfeeding training by their department and they lacked knowledge concerning the management of special breastfeeding scenarios. Most of the participating healthcare professionals stated that their education and training about breastfeeding was more of superficial instead of being substantial either in theoretical background or technical skills making the improvement of current educational breastfeeding curriculum in the Obstetrics and Gynecology Departments an urgent necessity.