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Effectiveness of WeChat for Improving Exclusive Breastfeeding in Huzhu County China: Randomized Controlled Trial

BACKGROUND: The benefits of breastfeeding for both infants and mothers have been well recognized. However, the exclusive breastfeeding rate in China is low and decreasing. Mobile technologies have rapidly developed; communication apps such as WeChat (one of the largest social networking platforms in...

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Autores principales: Wu, Qiong, Huang, Yiwen, Liao, Zijun, van Velthoven, Michelle Helena, Wang, Wei, Zhang, Yanfeng
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: JMIR Publications 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7746496/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33270026
http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/23273
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author Wu, Qiong
Huang, Yiwen
Liao, Zijun
van Velthoven, Michelle Helena
Wang, Wei
Zhang, Yanfeng
author_facet Wu, Qiong
Huang, Yiwen
Liao, Zijun
van Velthoven, Michelle Helena
Wang, Wei
Zhang, Yanfeng
author_sort Wu, Qiong
collection PubMed
description BACKGROUND: The benefits of breastfeeding for both infants and mothers have been well recognized. However, the exclusive breastfeeding rate in China is low and decreasing. Mobile technologies have rapidly developed; communication apps such as WeChat (one of the largest social networking platforms in China) are widely used and have the potential to conveniently improve health behaviors. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of using WeChat to improve breastfeeding practices. METHODS: This 2-arm randomized controlled trial was conducted among pregnant women from May 2019 to April 2020 in Huzhu County, Qinghai Province, China. Pregnant women were eligible to participate if they were aged 18 years or older, were 11 to 37 weeks pregnant with a singleton fetus, had no known illness that could limit breastfeeding after childbirth, used WeChat through their smartphone, and had access to the internet. A total of 344 pregnant women were recruited at baseline, with 170 in the intervention group and 174 in the control group. Women in the intervention group received breastfeeding knowledge and promotion information weekly through a WeChat official account from their third month of pregnancy to 6 months postpartum. The primary outcome of exclusive and predominant breastfeeding rate was measured 0-1 month, 2-3 months, and 4-5 months postpartum. RESULTS: At 0-1 month postpartum, the exclusive breastfeeding rate was significantly higher in the intervention group than that in the control group (81.1% vs 63.3%; odds ratio [OR] 2.75, 95% CI 1.58-4.78; P<.001). Similarly, mothers in the intervention group were more likely to provide predominantly breast milk (OR 2.77, 95% CI 1.55-4.96; P<.001) and less likely to give dairy products to their children (OR 0.40, 95% CI 0.21-0.75; P=.005). There was no statistically significant difference for exclusive breastfeeding rate 2-3 months (P=.09) and 4-5 months postpartum (P=.27), though more children in the intervention group were exclusively breastfed than those in the control group 2-3 months postpartum (intervention: 111/152, 73.0%; control: 96/152, 63.2%) and 4-5 months postpartum(intervention: 50/108, 46.3%; control: 46/109, 42.2%). CONCLUSIONS: This study is the first effort to promote exclusive breastfeeding through WeChat in China, which proved to be an effective method of promoting exclusive breastfeeding in early life. WeChat health education can be used in addition to local breastfeeding promotion programs. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry ChiCTR1800017364; http://www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.aspx?proj=29325 INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): RR2-10.1186/s12889-019-7676-2
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spelling pubmed-77464962020-12-21 Effectiveness of WeChat for Improving Exclusive Breastfeeding in Huzhu County China: Randomized Controlled Trial Wu, Qiong Huang, Yiwen Liao, Zijun van Velthoven, Michelle Helena Wang, Wei Zhang, Yanfeng J Med Internet Res Original Paper BACKGROUND: The benefits of breastfeeding for both infants and mothers have been well recognized. However, the exclusive breastfeeding rate in China is low and decreasing. Mobile technologies have rapidly developed; communication apps such as WeChat (one of the largest social networking platforms in China) are widely used and have the potential to conveniently improve health behaviors. OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to assess the effectiveness of using WeChat to improve breastfeeding practices. METHODS: This 2-arm randomized controlled trial was conducted among pregnant women from May 2019 to April 2020 in Huzhu County, Qinghai Province, China. Pregnant women were eligible to participate if they were aged 18 years or older, were 11 to 37 weeks pregnant with a singleton fetus, had no known illness that could limit breastfeeding after childbirth, used WeChat through their smartphone, and had access to the internet. A total of 344 pregnant women were recruited at baseline, with 170 in the intervention group and 174 in the control group. Women in the intervention group received breastfeeding knowledge and promotion information weekly through a WeChat official account from their third month of pregnancy to 6 months postpartum. The primary outcome of exclusive and predominant breastfeeding rate was measured 0-1 month, 2-3 months, and 4-5 months postpartum. RESULTS: At 0-1 month postpartum, the exclusive breastfeeding rate was significantly higher in the intervention group than that in the control group (81.1% vs 63.3%; odds ratio [OR] 2.75, 95% CI 1.58-4.78; P<.001). Similarly, mothers in the intervention group were more likely to provide predominantly breast milk (OR 2.77, 95% CI 1.55-4.96; P<.001) and less likely to give dairy products to their children (OR 0.40, 95% CI 0.21-0.75; P=.005). There was no statistically significant difference for exclusive breastfeeding rate 2-3 months (P=.09) and 4-5 months postpartum (P=.27), though more children in the intervention group were exclusively breastfed than those in the control group 2-3 months postpartum (intervention: 111/152, 73.0%; control: 96/152, 63.2%) and 4-5 months postpartum(intervention: 50/108, 46.3%; control: 46/109, 42.2%). CONCLUSIONS: This study is the first effort to promote exclusive breastfeeding through WeChat in China, which proved to be an effective method of promoting exclusive breastfeeding in early life. WeChat health education can be used in addition to local breastfeeding promotion programs. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Chinese Clinical Trial Registry ChiCTR1800017364; http://www.chictr.org.cn/showproj.aspx?proj=29325 INTERNATIONAL REGISTERED REPORT IDENTIFIER (IRRID): RR2-10.1186/s12889-019-7676-2 JMIR Publications 2020-12-03 /pmc/articles/PMC7746496/ /pubmed/33270026 http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/23273 Text en ©Qiong Wu, Yiwen Huang, Zijun Liao, Michelle Helena van Velthoven, Wei Wang, Yanfeng Zhang. Originally published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research (http://www.jmir.org), 03.12.2020. https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work, first published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research, is properly cited. The complete bibliographic information, a link to the original publication on http://www.jmir.org/, as well as this copyright and license information must be included.
spellingShingle Original Paper
Wu, Qiong
Huang, Yiwen
Liao, Zijun
van Velthoven, Michelle Helena
Wang, Wei
Zhang, Yanfeng
Effectiveness of WeChat for Improving Exclusive Breastfeeding in Huzhu County China: Randomized Controlled Trial
title Effectiveness of WeChat for Improving Exclusive Breastfeeding in Huzhu County China: Randomized Controlled Trial
title_full Effectiveness of WeChat for Improving Exclusive Breastfeeding in Huzhu County China: Randomized Controlled Trial
title_fullStr Effectiveness of WeChat for Improving Exclusive Breastfeeding in Huzhu County China: Randomized Controlled Trial
title_full_unstemmed Effectiveness of WeChat for Improving Exclusive Breastfeeding in Huzhu County China: Randomized Controlled Trial
title_short Effectiveness of WeChat for Improving Exclusive Breastfeeding in Huzhu County China: Randomized Controlled Trial
title_sort effectiveness of wechat for improving exclusive breastfeeding in huzhu county china: randomized controlled trial
topic Original Paper
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7746496/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33270026
http://dx.doi.org/10.2196/23273
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