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Appendix N. Tayside Health Board - Breastfeeding
Topics: Child and Maternal Health
Background
The objectives of the project were to recruit and train breastfeeding support workers who would provide additional support, information and practical skills in the antenatal and postnatal periods for mothers living in deprived areas as identified by postcode area.
Funding allocation
The pilot was allocated £190,500
Aim(s)
To provide women on low incomes in Dundee with additional information and support by breastfeeding support workers to improve breastfeeding initiation and duration rates.
Methodology
The project employed a non-randomised (quasi) experimental design involving mothers in Depcats 5, 6 and 7 living in Dundee as the intervention group. Two control groups were also recruited for comparison. One group, "Similarly deprived" comprised mothers in two postcode sectors in Angus and one postcode sector in Dundee and the other group, "Affluent" comprised mothers living in Depcats 1 and 2 in Dundee. The breastfeeding support workers recruited mothers at 28 weeks gestation.
The primary outcomes of the project were the uptake in services defined as two or more accepted home visits and breastfeeding rates at birth, discharge, first visit and 6/8 weeks.
In addition, a number of secondary outcomes were stated. These were the numbers and socio-demographic distribution of: patients contacted; patients who were contacted and offered follow-up services; patients who attended follow-up services and patients views regarding acceptability.
Key results
In the intervention areas, the breastfeeding rate at 6-8 week review increased by 9%, compared with an increase of 1.8% in the "Similarly Deprived" control group and a decrease of 11.7% in the "Affluent" control group.
Pre and post intervention, the intervention group showed significantly higher increases in breastfeeding rates than the other two groups at each of the points of comparison.
Results from focus groups with breastfeeding support workers, midwives and health visitors and in-depth interviews with 12 mothers indicated that the service was highly valued by both service users and professionals.
Conclusions
The project demonstrated an effective and highly valued model of working that can improve breastfeeding rates for those living in deprived communities and can be used to inform future practice.
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