A Study on the Development of the Korean Breastfeeding Empowerment Scale

Kim, Yun Mi; Park, Young Sook

Abstract

PURPOSE
The purpose of this study was to develop an instrument to measure breastfeeding empowerment for the Korean mother, and to test the validity and reliability of the instrument. METHOD: The items of instruments used was based on literature review. Nineteen item scales were developed with five domains. In order to test reliability and validity of the scale, data was collected from 99 mothers who were within 4weeks, postpatum and 88 mothers who had had children within 1 year. Data was collected between September 2nd and 24th by a self-reported questionnaire. RESULT: The results were as follows: As a result of factor analysis three times, 19 items were selected from the total of 24 items. Five factors evolved by factor analysis, which explained 65.7% of the total variance. The first factor 'breastfeeding skill' explained 34.1%, the 2nd factor 'group empowerment' 10.6%, the 3rd factor 'breastfeeding will' explained 7.8%, the 4th factor 'social policy empowerment' 7.0%, and the 5th factor 'adherence to exclusive breastfeeding' 6.2%. Cronbach's alpha coefficient of this scale was .8781. CONCLUSION: The study supports the reliability and validity of the scale. Because the main concept of breastfeeding empowerment was breastfeeding skill, there were distinct differences in the dimensions of breastfeeding empowerment scales.