Supporting, failing to support and undermining breastfeeding self-efficacy: Analysis of helpline calls

While a complexity of factors explains early cessation of breastfeeding the encounter of a problem is often a critical point in this decision. For this reason, breastfeeding self-efficacy, a mother’s evaluations of her ability to successfully overcome challenges, is an effective target in interventions to sustain breastfeeding. This study examined factors affecting the success of one such intervention, reactive telephone support. Across a 4-week period, recordings of all calls to a nurse-staffed parent helpline in Queensland, Australia were made. Of these calls, 60 were from mothers encountering a breastfeeding problem. Using a standard protocol, each call was scored for trajectories of mother’s breastfeeding self-efficacy from opening to close of call. Calls showing an upward trajectory were defined as Supporting (53%), those with no change were defined as Ineffective (25%) and those with downward trajectory as Undermining (22%). Using trajectory scores, case-exemplars were purposively selected for detailed analysis of interactional sequences to identify strategies that distinguished outcome. The Supportive call was distinguished by information-sharing, mutual trust and respectful relationships and personalized affirmation and advice. The Ineffective call focused on technical aspects of breastfeeding while the Undermining call made moral judgements of mother’s behaviour. The findings identify interactional quality of telephone support, not simply provision, as the key success factor in reactive telephone support. The finding also presents interactional quality as a potential explanation for inconsistent outcomes in evaluation of reactive telehealth interventions to support breastfeeding.