Development of comfort measurement scale for breastfeeding mothers to support breastfeeding continuation

2022 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 18K10452
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Review Section: Basic Section 58070:Lifelong developmental nursing-related
• Research Institution: The Japanese Red Cross Toyota College of Nursing
• Principal Investigator: Chiba Asako 日本赤十字豊田看護大学, 看護学部, 講師 (50572624)
• Project Period (FY): 2018-04-01 – 2023-03-31
• Keywords: 母乳育児 / 心地よさ / 母親 / 尺度

Outline of Final Research Achievements

A web-based anonymous survey was conducted with 553 mothers who breastfeed infants aged 3 to 6 months. We performed an item analysis and an exploratory factor analysis of 34 items, and developed a scale for comfort of breastfeeding perceived by the mothers with 26 items in the following four factors: Feelings of happiness while breastfeeding, Sense of ease in the supportive environment, Satisfaction with the amount of breast milk and feeding method, and Breastfeeding posture with comfortable breastfeeding. Cronbach's α coefficient for the total scale was .905. We examined the construct validity using the known group method. There were differences by nutritional method: the scores of the complete breastfeeding group were higher than those of the mixed nutrition and the mostly artificial nutrition groups. The scores of mothers with breastfeeding difficulty factors were significantly lower than those without such factors.

Free Research Field

母性看護学

Academic Significance and Societal Importance of the Research Achievements

産科施設退院後は母親は自己管理で母乳を行っていることが多く，栄養方法も完全母乳から人工栄養が多い方法まで多岐にわたる．また，母乳育児を取り巻く環境や母乳育児に伴う困難から母乳育児を心地よく思えない場合も多くある．母親の心身の苦痛を緩和し，心地よさを感じられるよう支援することで母乳の継続に貢献できると考えた．
今回開発した尺度は，母親が母乳育児に感じる心地よさを「授乳中の満足」「サポートの安心感」「授乳量と方法の満足」「安楽な授乳姿勢」と総合的に評価している．母親が母乳育児に感じる心地よさ尺度を使用することで，母親に適切なケアの提供ができると考える．また，産褥早期からの支援も可能と考える．