The Effect of Web-Based Breastfeeding Education Based on Knowledge, Motivation, Behavioral Skills Model on Fathers' Breastfeeding Support

Breast milk is a highly bioavailable, easily digestible, and miraculous food that meets all the nutrient, energy, and fluid needs of the baby for physical, mental, and psychological development. International health organizations emphasize that breastfeeding is the key to sustainable development and recommend exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months, followed by continued breastfeeding with complementary feeding for two years or longer. However, only a limited proportion of infants, both globally and in Turkey, are exclusively breastfed during the first six months, which remains below the targeted rates set within the scope of sustainable development goals. When the factors underlying mothers' discontinuation of breastfeeding are examined, many social, cultural, and psychological reasons are reported. One of these reasons is spousal/father support. In recent years, studies have focused on fathers to increase breastfeeding rates. In this direction, breastfeeding training based on the Knowledge-Motivation-Behavioral Skills (BMB) model, planned to be given to fathers to support the breastfeeding process and to accompany mothers and babies in breastfeeding, is of great importance. In the literature, no web-based online study was found to support fathers in the breastfeeding process based on the BMB model. The fact that the training is based on a theoretical model and planned to be web-based in terms of accessibility for fathers constitutes the original aspect of the study. The aim of this study was to examine the effect of web-based breastfeeding education, based on the Knowledge-Motivation-Behavioral Skills Model, on fathers' breastfeeding support.