Relationship between family support, personal communication, shared decision making, and breastfeeding in low birth weight babies

Breastfeeding promotion is done in the form of education, not shared decision making. Consequently, breastfeeding while in hospital is still so low that problems arise after being discharged from the hospital. Researchers aimed to analyze the relationship between family support, personal communication, shared decision making, and breastfeeding in low birth weight babies. This study was a cross-sectional design conducted in three hospitals in the East Java province of Indonesia. Two-hundred mothers who have babies were selected as samples using simple random sampling. The variables were collected by a questionnaire. The data were then analyzed using path analysis. Breastfeeding showed a direct and positive relationship with shared decision making (b = 0.53; 95% CI = 0.25 to 0.81; p = <0.001). Shared decision making was directly and positively related with personal communication (b = 0.67; 95% CI = 0.56 to 0.77; p = <0.001). Personal communication showed a direct and positive relationship with family support (b = 0.40 95% CI = 0.24 to 0.57; p = <0.001). Yet, breastfeeding showed an indirect relationship with family support and personal communication. Breastfeeding increases with shared decision making and excellent personal communication between nurses and mothers. Personal communication will increase when getting support from the family.