KNOWLEDGE OF BREASTFEEDING AMONG E-DISTANCE LEARNING NURSING UNDERGRADUATE STUDENTS AT THE UNIVERSITI TEKNOLOGI MARA

Abstract

Introduction: Knowledge played a major role in breastfeeding practices among nurses to provide health-education to mothers of new-born babies. The students are relentlessly involved in task of encouraging mothers to breastfeed. The purpose of this study is to investigate the level of breastfeeding knowledge among e-distant learning undergraduate nursing students at the faculty of health sciences, Puncak Alam, UiTM, Selangor.

Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted among 136 students. Close-ended questionnaire was used to assess student's knowledge on breastfeeding of mothers.

Results: This study showed that students were highly educated, especially in terms of (a) Physiology of lactation with a mean score of 90.1 % and (b) Benefits of breastfeeding with a mean score of 88.5%. But in term of breastfeeding management the mean score was only 63%. However, regarding the findings about overall knowledge level the mean score revealed 71.3% respondents with higher level score, 28% moderate score and 0.7% with a low score.

Conclusion: Therefore, we can conclude that, the majority of the students generally have high knowledge towards breastfeeding. They not only function as knowledgeable individuals but also as health care professionals who may be effective educators and promoters of breastfeeding.