Clinical introduction and evaluation of the Existential Breastfeeding Difficulty Scale (ExBreastS) in the context of child health care

• CLINICAL INTRODUCTION AND EVALUATION OF THE EXISTENTIAL BREASTFEEDING DIFFICULTY SCALE (EXBREASTS) IN THE CONTEXT OF CHILD HEALTH CAREIda Gustafsson RN, RM, Lecturer, PhD-studentFaculty of Caring Science, Work Life and Social Welfare, University of Borås, Borås, SwedenMalin Spångby RN, MNScChild Health Services, Region Jönköping County, Jönköping, SwedenAnn Arvidsdal RN, MNScChild Health Services, Region Jönköping County, Jönköping, SwedenMarie Golsäter RN, PhD, DocentChild Health Services, Region Jönköping County, Jönköping, SwedenCHILD Research Group, School of Health and Welfare, Jönköping University, Jönköping, SwedenDepartment of Health, Medicine and Caring, Linköping University, Linköping, SwedenLina Palmér RN, RM, Associate Professor, DocentFaculty of Caring Science, Work Life and Social Welfare, University of Borås, Borås, Sweden Background: Breastfeeding, both with and without perceived difficulties, can be experienced as an existential journey. Therefore, care needs to be based on the woman's breastfeeding story and carers need to be prepared to handle the existential questions that may arise. Previous research shows that healthcare professionals struggle with providing individually tailored care. The Existential Breastfeeding Difficulty Scale (ExBreastS) was developed based on lifeworld theoretical research on women's experiences of initiating breastfeeding with or without breastfeeding difficulties and was in this study introduced in child healthcare in a Swedish region. This was done to evaluate its ability to support child healthcare nurses to conduct existentially oriented caring dialogues with the breastfeeding story in focus.  Aim: Describe child healthcare nurses’ lived experience of how ExBreastS influences the caring dialogue. Methods: Lifeworld interviews were conducted with 17 child healthcare nurses about their experience of using ExBreastS to support caring dialogues with breastfeeding women. The interviews were conducted either individually, in pairs or in groups. The material was analyzed through thematic analysis based on descriptive phenomenology. Results: The results show that ExBreastS contributes to the re-evaluation of the importance of the caring dialogue because the existential significance of breastfeeding is given more space. ExBreastS also makes new perspectives of the breastfeeding story visible for both woman and carer. However, if the instrument itself receives too much of the nurse’s focus, there is a risk that the caring dialogue will be overshadowed. Conclusions: ExBreastS supports caring dialogues based on the breastfeeding story through its focus on the existential aspects of breastfeeding. However, this requires time, support from the organization and an awareness that caring dialogues can have no manual.

Ämnesord

MEDICIN OCH HÄLSOVETENSKAP  -- Annan medicin och hälsovetenskap -- Övrig annan medicin och hälsovetenskap (hsv//swe)

MEDICAL AND HEALTH SCIENCES  -- Other Medical and Health Sciences -- Other Medical and Health Sciences not elsewhere specified (hsv//eng)

Nyckelord

Breastfeeding

Clinical Introduction

Evaluation

ExBreastS

Child Health Care

Caring Science

Life World

Existential

Människan i vården

The Human Perspective in Care

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