Telephone intervention in the promotion of self-efficacy, duration and exclusivity of breastfeeding: randomized controlled trial.
Anne Fayma Lopes Chaves, Lorena Barbosa Ximenes, Dafne Paiva Rodrigues and 3 others
PMID 31038634WHAT IT FOUND
Adding telephone support to routine hospital care did not change exclusive breastfeeding or self-efficacy at two months.
It raised confidence by four months and helped maintain breastfeeding at two months, but duration was not clearly different at four months.
Key findings
01Adding telephone support to routine hospital care increased breastfeeding self-efficacy at four months.
02Self-efficacy was similar at two months, and exclusive breastfeeding showed minimal differences at two and four months.
03Breastfeeding was maintained at two months in 100% of intervention women who remained, but the four-month difference was not statistically significant.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
40.9% of participants were lost, so the analysed group was smaller than planned and may not represent the original sample. The intervention group had more women in married/stable unions (86.4% vs 68.2%), and these women had better breastfeeding self-efficacy, so baseline imbalance may have influenced the outcome. Participants and the person delivering the telephone calls were not blinded, which can affect self-reported breastfeeding behaviour and self-efficacy. The intervention lasted only three calls over one month, so it may not show longer-term effects. Findings come from one district hospital, so they may not apply elsewhere.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read the 100% two-month breastfeeding figure as evidence that telephone support alone keeps all mothers breastfeeding. It applied only to intervention-group women who remained in the study, and 40.9% of participants were lost.