The knowledge, attitude and practice of infant allergy prevention among breastfeeding peer counselor in Pahang

• Main Authors: Mahasan, Ainun Syuhada, Mohd Shukri, Nor Azwani, Abdul Ghani, Radiah
• Format: Conference or Workshop Item
• Language: English; English
• Published: 2019
• Subjects: RA643 Communicable Diseases and Public Health
• Online Access: http://irep.iium.edu.my/74532/8/74532%20poster.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/74532/9/74532%20programme%20book.pdf; http://irep.iium.edu.my/74532/

It is estimated that 30 to 40% of children in Malaysia have allergies that also involved breastfed infants. Maternal diet during pregnancy and breastfeeding was found to be one of the factors that may lead to allergy reaction in infants. The increasing trends of allergy among infants leads to the question whether mothers have a sufficient knowledge. One of the sources of information is via breastfeeding peer counselor. Objective: This study aimed to identify knowledge, attitude and practice (KAP) of breastfeeding, maternal diet and infant allergy prevention among Breastfeeding Peer Counselor (BPC) in Pahang. Materials and Methods: This is a cross sectional questionnaire study carried out among 67 BPC with mean age 40.94±8.87 that live in Pahang. The convenient sampling method was used with the inclusion criteria will be among Kumpulan Sokongan Penyusuan Susu Ibu Pahang (KUSSIP). All the data was analysed using SPSS Version 12.0. Results: In total, 82.1% of participants had moderate knowledge, 67.2% had good attitude and 80.6% had good practice towards breastfeeding, maternal diet and infant allergy. The knowledge of BPC showed significant positive correlations with attitude score (r=0.659, p=0.001), knowledge and practice (r=0.480, p=0.001) and attitude of BPC towards practice score (r=0.643, p=0.001). Conclusion: This study reveals that majority of the BPC had moderate level of knowledge towards breastfeeding, maternal diet and infant allergy. An improvement of knowledge on this issue is highly recommended as they will be the centre of information for mothers to prevent allergy among breastfed infants through knowledgeable BPC.