RESUMO
BACKGROUND: Developing a scale to address the breastfeeding benefits and practices among antenatal and postnatal mothers is important as it helps in evaluating the change in the behavior, attitude, and practice with appropriate health education. AIM: This study was done to develop and validate a scale to assess the knowledge about the breastfeeding benefits and practices in Tamil language among antenatal and postnatal mothers belonging to rural areas of Chengalpattu, South India. METHODS: We developed a scale to assess the knowledge about the benefits and practices of breastfeeding through literature review and expert opinion. Final version was administered among 377 antenatal and postnatal mothers in selected villages of rural Chengalpattu, South India. Construct validation was evaluated through principal component analysis (PCA). Confirmatory factor analysis was performed to check the goodness-of-fit of results. Internal consistency was evaluated through the Cronbach's alpha co-efficient. RESULTS: A total of 11 questions were finalized in the questionnaire following face and content validity. In PCA, three factor models were obtained with the eigen values of 4.18, 1.91 and 1.48, respectively. These three factors were able to explain for about 68.9% of the variance. Goodness-of-fit indices revealed satisfactory comparative fit indices (0.81), Tucker-Lewis Index (0.73), standardized root mean square residual (0.11), and root mean square error of approximation (0.14). The reliability co-efficient for the questionnaire was 0.80. CONCLUSION: We have developed an internally valid and reliable tool for evaluating the knowledge about breastfeeding benefits and practices. The scale should thus facilitate and fast-track the development of a structured breastfeeding educational program for antenatal and postnatal mothers receiving care at the primary health care level. RELEVANCE FOR PATIENTS: This questionnaire allows for the objective monitoring of effectiveness of educational activities and also help in comparing the efficiency of various educational models targeting the antenatal and postnatal mothers.