Facebook Challenge: Integration of Breastfeeding for Sick Babies and E-Training to Enhance the Knowledge of Healthcare Workers

Although the Thailand Breastfeeding Center has supported breastfeeding for sick babies since 2014, it has been found that breastfeeding in infants is still 40% lower than national targets.

This research aimed to test the effectiveness of online breastfeeding training through social media to further the knowledge of healthcare workers.

A quasi-experimental research study of a sample group of 60 workers was conducted between the neonatal step-down unit and the postpartum care unit. Research instruments consisted of breastfeeding e-training through a Facebook platform, knowledge testing on the breastfeeding of sick newborns, an online training satisfaction assessment form, data analysis by frequency and percentage, averaging, and testing by t-test, chi-square, and the Fisher exact test.

The mean and standard deviation of knowledge before training in the experiment and control group were 22.40±2.11and 23.43±3.32, respectively. After the intervention, the experimental group was 31.93±1.98, and the control group was 24.06±2.14. It was found that the average knowledge score pertaining to the breastfeeding of high-risk neonates in the group that had undergone online training was higher than the group that had undergone ordinary supervision (p< 0.001).

It can be seen that asynchronous e-training may be one alternative for the knowledge development of healthcare workers in promoting breastfeeding for families with sick newborns.