Community Medicine Abstracts - College of Medicine and Health ...

Project No. 175 (C-2000/1)A study of Knowledge, Attitude and Practice towards Breast-feeding amongUAE National Women.Student Authors: Moza Sultan Abdulla Ali Ali-Ali, Latifa Ahmed Ali Moh'd Ebrahim,Munira Saif bin Ahmed Moh'd Al-NaqbiFaculty Supervisors: Dr. P. Badrinath, Dr. A. CarterAbstract:Objective Our objectives were to assess subjects’ knowledge about breast-feeding, todetermine the factors influencing decision to breast-feed or bottle feed and to assess ifthere is relationship between socio-demographic variables and the knowledge, attitudeand practice toward breastfeeding among U AE national women.Methods A cross-sectional study was carried out in Al Ain Hospital out patientsdepartment (OPD) and primary health care (PHC) clinics based on an intervieweradministered questionnaire and self -administrated questionnaire. Subjects: 250 UAElocal married women who are 14 to 45 years old were interviewedResults Of the 250 UAE women approached, 200 women agreed to participate andrespond to the study (80%). Most of illiterate were in (40-45 years) age group. Themajority of subjects were housewives, of medium socio-economic status, and fromsmall family (1-2 children). Most of subjects breast-fed all of their children (147 out of200). Median age of introducing food was 4. 82.1% of housewife have >3 children.Educated mothers do not initiate breast-feeding immediately after delivery. The mainsource of breast-feeding information was the family. High knowledge score wasrecorded for educated mothers.Conclusion: In conclusion, UAE women are aware of the benefit of breast-feeding.Women tend to introduce food on an earlier age of the infant's life as a supplementalfood with breast milk. In general, national women have great knowledge, attitude andpractice towards breast-feeding.