Home Based Peer Support Program for Mothers With Low Breastfeeding Self-efficacy

Not Applicable

Completed

• Conditions: Breastfeeding
• Interventions: Behavioral: Online Home-based peer support

• Registration Number: NCT04621266
• Lead Sponsor: The University of Hong Kong

Brief Summary

An online home-based breastfeeding peer support programme is proposed to support mothers who are giving birth to their first-born. This study aims to evaluate the effectiveness of this programme in improving breastfeeding practices among women with low breastfeeding self-efficacy. It is hypothesized that participants who received online home-based peer support will exclusively breastfeed for longer duration, have higher breastfeeding self-efficacy, and lower post-partum depression symptoms when compared to those receiving only standard care.

Detailed Description

Primiparous mothers who plan to breastfeed but did not go on to breastfeed often face high levels of emotional and psychological challenges in their transition to parenthood. This can adversely affect their breastfeeding experiences and general well-being, and is associated with stress, anxiety, and postnatal depression. While family psycho-education and other supportive group programmes are available in health services, they require face-to-face education sessions over a long interval, high engagement, and trusting relationships, and thus often result in low attendance and high drop outs.

Mothers have expressed the need for psychological support of peer counsellors, which would allow them to support each other. The first month postpartum is a critical period for sustaining exclusive breastfeeding and the time when mothers are at high risk of postpartum depression. For Chinese mothers in Hong Kong, however, they are often housebound during this period due to the tradition of "doing the month", and thus often find it difficult to attend support groups or seek help. In view of these challenges and the pandemic wave faced by primiparous mothers, they are reluctant with home visits, therefore an online delivery of the home-based peer support programme is proposed.

This randomized control trial adopts a two-arm design to examine the effectiveness of an online home-based peer support programme for women with low breastfeeding self-efficacy. It is hypothesized that those receiving the intervention, when compared to the controls, will have (1) longer period of exclusive breastfeeding, (2) higher postnatal breastfeeding self-efficacy, and (3) lower post-partum depressive symptoms.

Basic Information
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Recruitment & Eligibility
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Study & Design
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Trial Locations

Study Timeline

• Study First Submitted: 2020-10-29
• Study First Submitted QC: 2020-11-03
• Study First Posted: 2020-11-09
• Study Start: 2021-08-13
• Status Verified: 2023-08
• Primary Completion: 2024-01-18
• Study Completion: 2024-01-18
• Last Update Submitted: 2024-06-04
• Last Update Posted: 2024-06-06

Recruitment & Eligibility

• Status: COMPLETED
• Sex: Female
• Target Recruitment: 442

Inclusion Criteria

• Primiparous mothers
• Intend to breastfeed
• Have low breastfeeding self-efficacy (between 14 to 32)
• Have singleton pregnancy and live birth
• Have term infant (37-42 weeks gestational)
• Cantonese speaking
• Hong Kong resident
• Have no serious medical or obstetrical complications

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Exclusion Criteria

• Infant is <37 week gestation
• Infant has Apgar score <8 at five minutes
• Infant has birthweight <2,500 grams
• Infant has any severe medical conditions or congenital malformations
• Infant is placed in the special care baby unit for more than 48 hours after birth
• Infant is placed in the neonatal intensive care unit at any time after birth

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Study & Design

• Study Type: INTERVENTIONAL
• Study Design: PARALLEL

Arm && Interventions

Group	Intervention	Description
Online Home-based peer support intervention	Online Home-based peer support	Participants will receive intervention on top of standard usual care.

Primary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Infant feeding status	At 6 months postpartum	Exclusive breastfeeding duration

Secondary Outcome Measures

Name	Time	Method
Women's postpartum depression	At baseline, 1 month and 2 months postpartum	The Chinese version of the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale is used to measure the severity of postnatal depressive symptoms. It is a ten-item scale rated from 0 to 3. The total score could range from 0 to 30. In general, a higher score indicates more severe depressive symptoms.
Women's self-efficacy in breastfeeding	At baseline, 2 months and 4 months postpartum	Breastfeeding Self-efficacy Scale Short Form (Hong Kong Chinese version) is used to measure maternal breastfeeding self-efficacy. The 14-item scale is on a 5-point Likert scale. Total score ranged from 14 to 70 with a higher score indicating higher breastfeeding confidence and self-efficacy. A cut-off score of 46 is applied after rounding up to the nearest integer.

Trial Locations

Locations (2)

Queen Elizabeth Hospital; 🇭🇰 Hong Kong, Hong Kong

Queen Mary Hospital; 🇭🇰 Hong Kong, Hong Kong