Improving College Students’ Breastfeeding Knowledge, Attitude, and Intention Through Smartphone Breastfeeding App in Nigeria

Background

Suboptimal breastfeeding practices contribute to child malnutrition in developing countries like Nigeria. Deficits in adolescents and young adults’ knowledge, attitude, and intention towards breastfeeding significantly influence suboptimal breastfeeding practices, which impacts child health outcomes.

Objective

To assess the effectiveness of a smartphone application (BF101) in improving breastfeeding knowledge, attitude, and intention among college students.

Study Design, Settings, Participants

A quasi-experimental study was conducted among final-year students at Emmanuel Alayande College of Education, Oyo, Nigeria. Participants were allocated to the intervention (n = 210) and control (n = 210) groups. The intervention group received access to BF101 app on their phone, featuring six modules covering various aspects of breastfeeding.

Measurable Outcome/Analysis

Pre- and post-intervention assessments of the breastfeeding knowledge, intention, and attitude of the participants were assessed using validated breastfeeding knowledge, attitude and intention questionnaire. Responses were scored and categorized as either adequate or inadequate for knowledge and intention, and positive or negative for the attitude.

Results

The study revealed that the intervention group showed significant improvements in breastfeeding knowledge, attitude and intention; the overall proportion of participants with adequate knowledge increased from 1.9% to 71.4%. Additionally, 42.8% of participants who initially lacked adequate breastfeeding knowledge transitioned to having sufficient knowledge after the intervention. Significant increase was reported in participants’ positive attitude towards breastfeeding, from 11% to 65.2%; 28.4% were identified to have transitioned from having negative at baseline to positive attitude after the intervention. Similarly, participants with the overall intention to breastfeed improved from 20.9% to 51.9%, although only 5% transitioned from lacking the intention to breastfeed to expressing future breastfeeding intention. However, no significant improvements were observed in the breastfeeding knowledge, attitude and intention of participants in the control group.

Conclusions

The findings underscore the effectiveness of a Smartphone-based breastfeeding education in improving breastfeeding knowledge, attitude, and intention among college students in Nigeria. Smartphone-based interventions could be an effective targeted approach to addressing gaps in breastfeeding education and avenue to prepare young adults for parenthood.

Funding

None