Challenges and predictors of exclusive breastfeeding among mothers attending the child welfare clinic at a regional hospital in Ghana: a descriptive cross-sectional study

Table 1 Maternal and infant characteristics (n = 240)

	Total (%) n = 240	EBF (%) n = 160	Non-EBF (%) n = 80	p - value
Maternal age (years)
18–24	78 (32.5)	46 (59.0)	32 (41.0)	0.008^a
25–31	106 (44.2)	72 (67.9)	34 (32.1)
32–38	52 (21.7)	40 (76.9)	12 (23.1)
39–45	4 (1.7)	2 (50)	2 (50)
Mean age (SD)	27.72 (5.13)	28.38 (5.16)	26.40 (4.84)
Marital status
Single	46 (19.2)	26 (56.5)	20 (43.5)	0.104^b
Married	194 (80.8)	134 (69.1)	60 (30.9)	0.104^b
Religion				0.131^b
Christian	184 (76.7)	118 (64.1)	66 (35.9)
Islamic	56 (23.3)	42 (75.0)	14 (25.0)
Educational level
None	4 (1.7)	0 (0.0)	4 (100.0)	0.013^c
Basic	118 (49.2)	74 (62.7)	44 (37.3)
Secondary	74 (30.8)	54 (73.0)	20 (27.0)
Tertiary	44 (18.3)	32 (72.7)	12 (27.3)
Occupation
Unemployed	42 (17.5)	18 (42.9)	24 (57.1)	0.004^b
Self-employed	116 (48.3)	84 (72.4)	32 (27.6)
Privately employed	46 (19.2)	32 (69.6)	14 (30.4)
Publicly employed	36 (15.0)	26 (72.2)	10 (27.8)
Sex of infant
Male	116 (48.3)	74 (63.8)	42 (36.2)	0.361^b
Female	124 (51.7)	86 (69.4)	38 (30.6)
Age of infant (months)
3–6	142 (59.2)	114 (80.3)	28 (19.7)	0.000^a
7–9	98 (40.8)	46 (46.9)	52 (53.1)
Mean age (SD)	5.79 (2.17)

Mann Whitney U test was used to examine differences between the EBF and the non-EBF group as the dependent variable (BF challenges) was ordinal and not normally distributed
Chi-square test of independence was used to determine the association between categorical variables and their statistical significance when cell counts within each cell was greater than 5
Fisher’s exact test using the Monte Carlo approach was used to determine the association between categorical variables and their statistical significance when cell counts within each cell was less than 5 for tables larger than 2*2
^aMann Whitney U test; ^bChi square test of independence; ^cFisher’s exact test using the Monte Carlo approach for tables larger than 2*2

ISSN: 1746-4358