Breastfeeding attitudes and knowledge among future female physicians and teachers in saudi arabia.

Background: Researches who assess and explore the medical and education college students breast feeding (BF) attitudes and knowledge are lacking in Saudi Arabia. Objectives: The present study aimed to explore the attitudes and knowledge about BF of the undergraduate female medical and education students at Colleges of Medicine and Education, King Faisal University, Saudi Arabia. Method and material: This cross-sectional study targeted all female students at all years of enrolment at both colleges; systematic random sampling method was employed for selecting participants in proportion to their colleges and years of study. Data was collected through a self administered, anonymous, previously validated questionnaire form collecting data about the socio-demographics of the students, the Iowa Infant Feeding attitude scale and 14 items to assess their knowledge. Results: A total of 521 female students were included. Students at both colleges showed positive attitudes towards BF, predominantly among medical, higher grades, at their clinical stage of medical education, rural and married students. The knowledge scores were low irrespective of the educational disciplines of the students and the responses of medical and education students reflected the prevalence of many misconceptions regarding the timely initiation, duration and exclusivity of BF. Conclusion: Undergraduate female students in medical and education colleges at King Faisal University have positive attitudes towards BF, yet they demonstrated low level of knowledge with several misconceptions. Promoting BF in their communities will not be possible without proper educational strategies aiming at reinforcement of the current curricular contents for the benefits of generations to come. Curricular changes aiming to promote BF and correcting the ingrained misconceptions are needed.

Author(s): Tarek Tawfik Amin

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