Study of exclusive breastfeeding behaviour based on the theory of planned behaviour in pregnant women in Isfahan in 2021

Background. Exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) refers to feeding the baby with breast milk until the end of six months after birth. Objectives. This study aimed to study EBF behaviour based on the theory of planned behaviour (TPB) in pregnant women in Isfahan in 2021. Material and methods. This cross-sectional study was conducted on 441 pregnant women in Isfahan with more than 20 weeks of pregnancy in 2021. The TPB constructs such as behavioural beliefs, outcome evaluation, normative beliefs, motivation to follow, control beliefs, perceived power, and behavioural intent on exclusive feeding behaviour were assessed. Sampling was simple randomised. We used an online questionnaire based on TPB constructs. The data was analysed with descriptive and analytic statistic. Results. The mean age of participants was 29.82 ± 5.138 years. There was a positive and significant relationship between the constructs of behavioural beliefs, normative beliefs, motivation to follow, control beliefs, perceived power ( p = 0.000) and outcome evaluation ( p = 0.002) with the intention of behaviour and an inverse relationship between these constructs and behaviour ( p < 0.05). However, there was a significant relationship between the number of children and the decision for the type of delivery ( p < 0.001) and the type of pregnancy ( p = 0.014) with the intention of EBF behaviour ( p < 0.05). The variables of behavioural beliefs, outcome evaluation, control beliefs and intention were selected as the most critical structures for predicting behaviour. According to this model, 29.1% of changes in EBF behaviour with these structures are also predicted. Conclusions. Based on the results, unplanned pregnancy and the decision for the type of delivery had a significant relationship with behavioural intention for EBF. Thus, effective education concerning positive attitudes and support in performing EBF are necessary.