1Department of Nursing, Pusan National University, Korea. 2Department of Nursing Research Institute of Nursing Science, Pusan National University, Korea. youngrancho@yahoo.co.kr
Abstract
PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to identify the characteristics and the related factors of attachment-oriented caretaking behavior in mothers who are breast-feeding their infants.
METHOD: The subjects were 155 mothers who participated in a healthy breast-feeding contest in the Busan area. The data were collected from September 24, 2003, and were analyzed using SPSS WIN 10.0.
RESULTS: The mothers were highly affirmative in their attachment-oriented caretaking behaviors (total mean 2.59+/-.502 of a possible score of 3). Among the attachment-oriented caretaking behaviors (10 items), the scores for 6 items were higher than the average score and 4 items were lower than the average score. There were significant differences in the attachment-oriented caretaking behaviors according to level of education (p<0.05), and planned duration of breast-feeding (p<0.001).
Mothers with university education who planned to breast-feed as long as the baby wanted had higher scores.
CONCLUSIONS: The above results suggest that nursing interventions which are individualized and practical are needed to encourage the attachment-oriented caretaking behaviors essential to breast-feeding mothers.
PDF Links
Full text via DOI 
Download Citation 
