Determinants of health care worker breastfeeding experience and practices and their association with provision of care for breastfeeding mothers: a mixed-methods study from Northern Thailand

Gilder, Mary Ellen; Pateekhum, Chanapat; Wai, Nan San; Misa, Prapatsorn; Sanguanwai, Phimthip; Sappayabanphot, Jarntrah; Tho, Nan Eh; Wiwattanacharoen, Wichuda; Nantsupawat, Nopakoon; Hashmi, Ahmar; Angkurawaranon, Chaisiri; McGready, Rose

doi:10.1186/s13006-024-00613-4

International Breastfeeding Journal

Table 5 Characteristics associated with attributing the decision to stop breastfeeding to low milk production or difficulties faced breastfeeding while working. The results of univariable and multivariable logistic regression analysis of relationships between work site and personal factors and reasons for cessation of breastfeeding are presented

From: Determinants of health care worker breastfeeding experience and practices and their association with provision of care for breastfeeding mothers: a mixed-methods study from Northern Thailand

			Insufficient breastmilk				Difficult to breastfeed and work
			Univariable (clustered)		Multivariable*		Univariable (clustered)		Multivariable
Characteristic			proportion (%)	p	aOR (95%CI)	p	proportion (%)	p	aOR (95%CI)	p
Work Site	Low BF prevalence, low support (TH2)		16/35 (46)	ref			9/39 (23)	ref
	Low BF prevalence, high support (TH1)		10/39 (49)	0.796	1.3 (0.5–3.8)	0.610	6/33 (18)	0.611	1.1 (0.3–4.2)	0.935
	High BF prevalence, low support (CBO2)		2/24 (8)	0.006	0.2 (0.0-0.9)	0.040	10/24 (42)	0.057	3.1 (0.7–14.9)	0.148
	High BF prevalence, high support (CBO1)		3/33 (9)	0.002	0.1 (0.0-0.5)	0.005	4/33 (12)	0.495	0.7 (0.1–3.7)	0.699
	WBSS-SF	below mean	17/80 (21)	ref			21/79 (27)	ref
	WBSS-SF	above mean	23/51 (45)	0.083	1.9 (0.8–4.8)	0.172	8/50 (16)	0.117	0.6 (0.2-2.0)	0.432
	Maternity leave†	< 3 months	4/27 (15)	ref			9/26 (35)	ref
	Maternity leave†	≥ 3 months	36/103 (35)	0.396			20/103 (19)	0.102
	Felt maternity leave was long enough	no	14/40 (35)	ref			12/38 (32)	ref
	Felt maternity leave was long enough	yes	25/90 (28)	0.539			17/90 (19)	0.079	0.3 (0.1–1.1)	0.063
	Expressed breastmilk at work	no	14/43 (33)	ref			15/41 (37)	ref
	Expressed breastmilk at work	yes	26/88 (30)	0.497			14/88 (16)	0.035	0.7 (0.3-2.0)	0.509
	Distance from child	far	17/46 (37)	ref			16/46 (33)	ref
	Distance from child	daycare/close^#	22/84 (26)	0.421			14/82 (17)	0.053	0.3 (0.1–0.8)	0.024
Mother-infant dyad	Birth order of the last child	1	15/44 (34)	ref			6/42 (14)	ref
		2	22/70 (31)	0.915	0.7 (0.2–2.8)	0.426	17/70 (24)	0.172	3.0 (0.8–11.5)	0.111
		≥ 3	3/17 (18)	0.159	0.3 (0.1–1.6)	0.161	6/17 (35)	0.148	8.3 (1.4–48.8)	0.020
	Breast rejection	no	27/92 (29)	ref			16/90 (18)	ref
	Breast rejection	yes	13/39 (33)	0.408			13/39 (33)	0.181	2.6 (0.9–7.4)	0.082
	Experience of breastfeeding	positive	34/120 (28)	ref			28/119 (24)	ref
	Experience of breastfeeding	neg/neutral	6/8 (75)	0.005	9.2 (1.2–71.9)	0.034	1/8 (13)	0.266
Year of birth	Before 2018		30/96 (31)	ref			26/94 (28)	ref
Year of birth	2018–2021		10/35 (29)	0.533			3/35 (9)	0.021	0.2 (0.0-0.8)	0.027

All results in bold are those that are statistically significant (p-value < 0.05)
^# “Close” was defined as “close enough to visit the baby during the work day (e.g. at lunch break)”. † Omitted from multivariable regression because colinear with site. Abbreviations: BF breastfeeding, CBO community based organization, TH Thai Hospital, WBSS-SF Workplace Breastfeeding Support Scale– short form. Neg negative
* adjusted for work site, WBSS-SF, birth order, and experience of breastfeeding
** adjusted for work site, WBSS-SF, perception of adequate maternity leave, breast milk expression at work, distance from child, birth order, breast rejection after bottle feeding, and year of birth

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ISSN: 1746-4358

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