Women's experience of social media breastfeeding support and its impact on extended breastfeeding success: A social cognitive perspective

Abstract

ObjectiveThis paper investigates the experiences of women using a social media Facebook group for breastfeeding support and attempts to explore whether it has aided in extended breastfeeding success. In addition, it aims to explore the value of social cognitive theory (SCT) in explaining these experiences.DesignExploratory, deductive approach.MethodsQualitative, audio‐recorded, semi‐structured interviews were conducted from eight women who were members of a private Facebook group'. Data were analysed using theoretical thematic analysis, and SCT was used as a theoretical lens through which the data were interrogated.ResultsA number of themes were identified from the women's experiences, with analysis uncovering the superordinate theme ‘increased self‐efficacy' which provided an understanding of how the group impacted women's experiences and aided them in breastfeeding success. The sub‐themes of education, accessibility, online community, normalization, and extended goals provided a more detailed understanding of how self‐efficacy was increased through group membership.ConclusionThe symbiotic relationship between members of a social media group facilitates greater breastfeeding success and a longer duration of breastfeeding through the central concept of the SCT: reciprocal determinism. Therefore, it is posited that the SCT is a suitable theory of behaviour change which can potentially be used to develop interventions aiming to increase breastfeeding rates and duration.

An integrative review on mothers' experiences of online breastfeeding peer support: Motivations, attributes and effects

“…A total of 14 publications met the criteria and were chosen for the review. Nine were qualitative (Alianmoghaddam et al, 2019;Black et al, 2020;Bridges, 2016;Clapton-Caputo et al, 2020;Jackson & Hallam, 2020;Niela-Vilén et al, 2015;Regan & Brown, 2019;Skelton et al, 2018), and two were mixed methods (Herron et al, 2015;Skelton et al, 2020). The remaining three were quantitative studies, of which two were randomized controlled trials (RCTs) (Cavalcanti et al, 2019;Niela-Vilén et al, 2016) and one was a cross-sectional survey .…”

“…The participants in seven studies were breastfeeding mothers with no specification (Alianmoghaddam et al, 2019;Bridges, 2016;Cavalcanti et al, 2019;Herron et al, 2015;Regan & Brown, 2019;Skelton et al, 2018Skelton et al, , 2020). In the other seven studies, the participants were from specific groups of breastfeeding mothers, including primiparous mothers, mothers with preterm infants, primiparous African American mothers, mothers who exclusively expressed breast milk and ones who continued breastfeeding over 12 months of the child's age (Black et al, 2020;Clapton-Caputo et al, 2020;Jackson & Hallam, 2020;Niela-Vilén et al, 2015;Niela-Vilén et al, 2016;. The breastfeeding peer support groups in 10 studies were exclusively on Facebook (Black et al, 2020;Bridges, 2016;Cavalcanti et al, 2019;Clapton-Caputo et al, 2020;Niela-Vilén et al, 2015;Niela-Vilén et al, 2016;Skelton et al, 2018Skelton et al, , 2020.…”

“…In the other seven studies, the participants were from specific groups of breastfeeding mothers, including primiparous mothers, mothers with preterm infants, primiparous African American mothers, mothers who exclusively expressed breast milk and ones who continued breastfeeding over 12 months of the child's age (Black et al, 2020;Clapton-Caputo et al, 2020;Jackson & Hallam, 2020;Niela-Vilén et al, 2015;Niela-Vilén et al, 2016;. The breastfeeding peer support groups in 10 studies were exclusively on Facebook (Black et al, 2020;Bridges, 2016;Cavalcanti et al, 2019;Clapton-Caputo et al, 2020;Niela-Vilén et al, 2015;Niela-Vilén et al, 2016;Skelton et al, 2018Skelton et al, , 2020. The groups in the remaining four studies were from forums in parenting websites or unspecified social media groups (Alianmoghaddam et al, 2019;Herron et al, 2015;Jackson & Hallam, 2020;Regan & Brown, 2019).…”

Description of an mHealth tool for breastfeeding support: LactApp. Analysis of how lactating mothers seek support at critical breastfeeding points and according to their infant's age

“…With all these findings, we believe that LactApp can influence the maintenance of BF, as does social media (Black et al, 2020) and other applications (Gonzalez‐Darias et al, 2020); but this should be tested in future studies. In future studies, we would also like to determine whether there are differences between what mothers consult depending on their culture, their sociodemographic data, or whether their infants were born prematurely or with low birth weight.…”

Nurses’ and midwives’ perspectives on how the crave for the ‘perfect’ body image affect their own breastfeeding practices: A qualitative study in Ghana

“…Social media depiction of pregnant and breastfeeding women was also mentioned as one of the sources of pressures for the participants in this current study. Meanwhile, social media is also used to form support groups that has proven to promote breastfeeding [57]. Focus should therefore be shifted to use social media to form mother clubs that would support each other.…”