Comparison Breastfeeding Motivation and Perceived Social Support Levels of Primiparous and Multiparous Women in the Postpartum Period

Objective: In this study, it was aimed to compare the breastfeeding motivation and social support levels in primiparous and multiparous women in the fourth week postnatally.
Methods: This descriptive, cross-sectional study was conducted in a training and research hospital in western Turkey between May-October 2019. The study sample comprised 160 mothers (primiparous=80, multiparous=80) who agreed to participate in the study. The study data were collected through telephone interviews, using the “Breastfeeding Motivation Scale” and the “Multidimensional Scale of Perceived Social Support”. Descriptive statistics, independent samples t-test, chi-square analysis were used in the analysis of the data.
Results: While the primiparous mothers performed their breastfeeding behavior in a controlled manner, the breastfeeding behavior of the multiparous was more motivated by autonomous motivation (p<0.05). The perceived social support level was 62.01±18.25 for the primiparous and 54.48±17.59 for the multiparous. The perceived social support level of the primiparous was statistically significantly higher than multiparous (p<0.05).
Conclusion: Evaluation of the individual motivation characteristics and social support levels of mothers from the perspective of parity in breastfeeding interventions performed to obtain positive results is of importance.