Objectives: This quasi-experimental study examined the effects of a new breastfeeding empowerment programme
provided to post-partum mothers within 3 days of entering post-partum care centres on their breastfeeding
empowerment, problems and practice rate.
Method: The study employed a non-equivalent control group non-synchronized design. Participants who conformed
with the selection criteria were selected from two post-partum care centres affiliated with hospitals in a city in South
Korea. Each of the two study groups included 30 participants. The breastfeeding empowerment programme comprised
four 60-minute sessions, and was applied for 4 weeks to mothers in the experimental group.
Results: The breastfeeding empowerment scores were higher in the experimental group than in the control group
(p ¼ 0.007), and there were fewer breastfeeding problems in the former group (p ¼ 0.012) and the breastfeeding rates
were higher in the former group (p ¼ 0.017, 0.002 and 0.002 at 4, 8 and 12 weeks post-partum, respectively).
Conclusions: These results indicate that the provision of breastfeeding empowerment programmes to help mothers to
identify and solve problems by themselves can improve breastfeeding empowerment, problem and practice rates, and hence
should be considered useful as a post-partum nursing intervention in clinical settings. The effectiveness of the various
components of the breastfeeding empowerment programme developed in this study should be verified in field trials.
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