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- Creators: Arizona State University
- Creators: Bond, Angela Bowen
- Creators: Gunnare, Chrystina Jean
- Creators: Montijo, Carra A.
- Resource Type: Text
A short and thickened lingual frenulum characterizes tongue-ties. Infants with this condition are likely to have issues with their latch, weight gain, and the ability to breastfeed exclusively. Mothers typically struggle with nipple pain and trauma. Tongue-tie procedures have become increasingly more popular as families turn to this intervention when struggling with breastfeeding.
The purpose of this quality improvement project is to collect data on tongue-tie revision procedures to explore the benefits, risks, and patient satisfaction with the clinical process. Questionnaires were created to collect information on tongue-tie revisions. Participants were asked to identify symptoms related both to the mother and infant. The type of feeding was assessed before and after to identify if the tongue-tie revisions increased exclusive breastfeeding. Likert-type scales were used to address maternal nipple pain, overall improvements in breastfeeding, and patient experience.
A total of 36 participants completed the pre-op questionnaire, and 22 completed the post-op questionnaires over four months. The results found that this was a low-risk procedure that helped improve breastfeeding or maternal and infant symptoms. There should be continued efforts to find ways to continue to collect this data, as it will increase the awareness of tongue-tie’s effect on breastfeeding.
A non-experimental pre-posttest self-report survey design was used to assess the feasibility and preliminary efficacy of an online breastfeeding educational intervention for healthcare providers. The Theory of Planned Behavior (TPB) provided the framework for exploring the participants’ psychological and behavioral outcomes. The research questions were: (1) What is the feasibility of an online breastfeeding course for healthcare providers? (2) What are healthcare providers’ psychological and behavioral changes occurring after completion of an online course? (3) How do the post-intervention psychological and behavioral outcomes of the online format compare with those of the previous format (hybrid) of this breastfeeding course?
Although participants’ favorably assessed the feasibility (i.e., acceptability) of the 45-hour course, several factors contributed to participants’ satisfaction level: Previous online learning experience, connectedness with others, and the degree of structural support. Significant positive changes occurring in participants were increases in their knowledge and beliefs about breastfeeding; attitudes toward formula feeding; perceived behavioral control; perceptions about being able to perform breastfeeding supportive behaviors; and intentions to perform actions that are consistent with evidence-based breastfeeding supportive behaviors. Significant changes in the beliefs about formula feeding were not in the expected direction raising conceptual and pedagogical issues. Participants had negative perceptions about being able to implement what they learned in their workplaces or to affect policy. Findings support the use of online breastfeeding education programs for healthcare providers; changes at both individual and institutional levels are necessary to change provider practices.