Abstract
Breast-feeding mothers' evaluation of their nursing care can help nurse-midwives to improve this care. A questionnaire was constructed to measure the care process from the perception and evaluation of mothers during their breast-feeding. This questionnaire developed from breast-feeding care categories found in a preliminary study in which I observed nurse-midwives' care. First, 542 mothers who had delivered and were still in the hospital or midwifery center and who had begun breast-feeding (Time 1), and then 384 of the same mothers at one month postpartum (Time 2), were asked to complete the questionnaire and return it by mail. The response rate was 418 (77.1%) for Time 1 and 336 (87.5%) for Time 2. Factor analysis yielded three factors from the mothers' perception of their breast-feeding care:(1) relaxation and tender encouragement (20.6% of the variance); (2) suitable attention (12.2%) and (3) direct support or literally, a helping hand (8.2%). Most items with the highest factor loading belonged to the single category: reliving and encouraging the mother. These results indicate the importance of emotional aspects of breast-feeding care. This study shows that if nurse-midwives include an emphasis on the emotional aspects of breast-feeding care and combine that with giving mothers knowledge and technical training in this care, such an approach will greatly improve this care and also enhance the mothers' experiences of that care.
