Can a facebook intervention increase breastfeeding among teenage Mums?
Research type
Research Study
Full title
An exploration of the feasibility and potential for a Facebook intervention to increase breastfeeding rates among teenage Mum's at 6 weeks postnatal.
IRAS ID
220791
Contact name
Marianne K Lind
Contact email
Sponsor organisation
University of Stirling
Duration of Study in the UK
2 years, 0 months, 1 days
Research summary
Rates of breastfeeding among teenage parents are considerably lower than the general population despite widely known benefits for mothers and babies. Studies to date have explored young parents attitudes towards breastfeeding and the lack of role models and support, however, there is little research around interventions to encourage and support breastfeeding. An area of health information that is minimally researched is that of social media, yet it is the method of choice for communication among young people. The proposed two-stage mixed methods feasibility study aims to develop a Facebook breastfeeding intervention and explore whether it shows potential for increasing breastfeeding among teenage Mums. It will be an add-on resource to the Family Nurse Partnership (FNP), a routinely delivered service under the NHS, offered to first-time pregnant Mums under 19 years.
The development of the Facebook intervention will be designed by Patient and Public Involvement (PPI). The researcher will meet with a small group of young Mums on four to six occasions to discuss and develop the Facebook page. The page will include links to websites and articles promoting breastfeeding. Following this, 150 pregnant teenagers newly recruited to the FNP programme in Fife will be invited during their pregnancy to join the Facebook page, which is to be a private group, requiring requested access. Data will be collected from an online survey to be completed once participants reach six weeks postnatal, providing information about use of the Facebook page. Simultaneously, data routinely collected by the FNP will be obtained for secondary analysis, providing a data set that includes feeding intention, methods and duration, which can be used to compare other FNP sites in Scotland which don't have such an intervention. Finally, eight to ten qualitative interviews will be undertaken following the intervention to ascertain what Mums experience of the Facebook page was.
REC name
North West - Greater Manchester West Research Ethics Committee
REC reference
17/NW/0341
Date of REC Opinion
30 Jun 2017
REC opinion
Further Information Favourable Opinion