Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic & Neonatal Nursing
Article: Clinical ResearchThe Breastfeeding Self‐Efficacy Scale: Psychometric Assessment of the Short Form
Section snippets
Theoretical Framework
Recently, self-efficacy has received considerable attention as a predictor of health-related behaviors. Defined as an individual’s confidence in his or her perceived ability to perform a specific task or behavior (Bandura, 1977), self-efficacy is composed of two parts: (a) outcome expectancy, the belief that a given behavior will produce a particular outcome, and (b) self-efficacy expectancy, an individual’s conviction that one can successfully perform certain tasks or behaviors to produce the
Sample
Participants completed questionnaires as part of a longitudinal study conducted near Vancouver, British Columbia, between April and January 2002. Women eligible to participate in the psychometric assessment of the BSES were all breastfeeding mothers who were at least 18 years of age, able to understand English, and had a singleton birth at 37 weeks gestation or greater. Mothers were excluded if they had a factor that could significantly interfere with breastfeeding, such as an infant in the
Sample
One hundred sixty-four participants were recruited antenatally, and 104 (63%) returned the 1-week postpartum questionnaire. Of the approximately 971 women screened postnatally, 857 were eligible; the most common reason for ineligibility was inability to read English (n = 27, or 24% of those ineligible). Of the eligible women, 190 (22%) declined enrollment, most frequently citing stress (n = 61, 32%) or lack of interest (n = 59, 31%). Of the 667 postnatal mothers who agreed to participate in the
Discussion
Theoretically based on Bandura’s social cognitive theory, the BSES-SF is an instrument that measures a mother’s confidence in her ability to breastfeed her new baby. This psychometric assessment not only provides additional support for the reliability of the BSES-SF but also evaluates maternal breastfeeding self-efficacy across the postpartum period. Consistent with the original methodological study (Dennis & Faux, 1999), reliability of the 33-item BSES was demonstrated through good estimates
Acknowledgments
The author gratefully acknowledges the Canadian Institutes for Health Research (CIHR) for the provision of a postdoctoral research fellowship (1999-2001) and the Fraser Valley research team, including Margaret Gander, Patricia Whitehead, Linda Bachmann, Alana Boucher, Terry Gust, Pam Munro, Tina Regehr, Heidi Beckerleg, Yvette Szabo, Mona Taylor, and Linda Winner.
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