Knowledge and beliefs regarding breastfeeding in college students of Karachi

Abstract

BackgroundBreast feeding has been shown to decrease infant mortality rates. However, the increasing number of neonatal deaths and decline in breastfeeding reflect a lack in knowledge about its importance and benefits.AimsTo assess the knowledge and beliefs of college students regarding breastfeeding and to determine the factors affecting the knowledge scores regarding breastfeeding in studentsMethodsA cross-sectional study was carried out with a convenience sample of 1500 undergraduate college students via self-administered questionnaires. Structured questionnaires were distributed in six well known universities of Karachi. Data analysis of socio-demographics, beliefs and knowledge of students regarding breastfeeding was done using SPSS (V20) software.ResultsThe response rate of the survey was 93.3 per cent. The difference in overall knowledge between medical and non-medical students was significant (p < 0.001) with 61.1 per cent of medical and only 14.4 per cent of non-medical students having adequate knowledge. Results regarding the basic knowledge about breastfeeding reflected that 49 per cent of non-medical participants had a poor knowledge compared to the 19.6 per cent of medical students. 39.4 per cent of medical and 64.5 per cent of non-medical participants considered their knowledge of breastfeeding to be inadequate. On multivariate analysis, non-medical participants were 6.85 times more likely to score in the inadequate range for knowledge compared to medical participants.ConclusionThe results indicated that medical students had a better knowledge regarding the advantages of breastfeeding as compared to non-medical students. However, the overall knowledge among undergraduates from both groups was low. Therefore, in order to improve this inadequacy, it is important that public campaigns targeting the advantages and significance of breastfeeding be conducted in Pakistan