Department of Nursing Science, Faculty of Health Sciences, University of Eastern Finland, Kuopio, Finland.
Faculty of Social Sciences, Health Sciences, Tampere University, Tampere, Finland.
J Hum Lact. 2024 Aug;40(3):434-444. doi: 10.1177/08903344241254343. Epub 2024 May 29.
Health professionals need adequate competence to support breastfeeding beyond infancy. There is no established instrument to measure health professionals' competence regarding long-term breastfeeding. To respond to this shortcoming, the Long-Term Breastfeeding Competence Scale (LBCS) was developed.
To develop and pilot an instrument that measures public health nurses' competence related to breastfeeding beyond 12 months in order to provide adequate breastfeeding counseling for families.
This study was conducted as a cross-sectional online survey on public health nurses working in maternity and/or child health clinics. The relevance and clarity of the LBCS were assessed by an expert panel ( = 6). Public health nurses ( = 197) completed the LBCS, which consisted of a knowledge and skills dimension and an attitude dimension. Descriptive statistics were used to describe the characteristics of the study sample. The conceptual validity of the knowledge and skills dimension was assessed using the dichotomous Rasch analysis, and attitude dimension using the exploratory factor analysis. Internal consistency was evaluated using Cronbach's alpha. The distribution of the items was summarized by descriptive statistics.
According to expert panel evaluations, the LBCS was found to meet the requirements for relevance and clarity (S-CVI 0.90). The internal consistency of the instrument was at a good level ( = 0.796) and met the requirements set for a new instrument.
The LBCS is appropriate to determine public health nurses' competence related to breastfeeding beyond 12 months. The LBCS can be used to identify the need for education concerning breastfeeding beyond 12 months.
健康专业人员需要具备足够的能力来支持婴儿期后的母乳喂养。目前还没有用于衡量健康专业人员长期母乳喂养能力的既定工具。为了应对这一不足，开发了长期母乳喂养能力量表（LBCS）。
开发并试点一种衡量公共卫生护士在 12 个月后母乳喂养相关能力的工具，以便为家庭提供充足的母乳喂养咨询。
本研究采用横断面在线调查的方式，对在妇产科和/或儿童保健诊所工作的公共卫生护士进行调查。通过专家小组（n=6）评估 LBCS 的相关性和清晰度。公共卫生护士（n=197）完成了 LBCS，该量表包括知识和技能维度以及态度维度。采用描述性统计来描述研究样本的特征。使用二项式 Rasch 分析评估知识和技能维度的概念有效性，使用探索性因子分析评估态度维度的概念有效性。采用 Cronbach's alpha 评估内部一致性。通过描述性统计总结项目的分布情况。
根据专家小组的评估，LBCS 被认为符合相关性和清晰度的要求（S-CVI 0.90）。该工具的内部一致性处于良好水平（α=0.796），符合新工具的要求。
LBCS 适合用于确定公共卫生护士在 12 个月后母乳喂养相关的能力。LBCS 可用于确定 12 个月后母乳喂养教育需求。
