Development and Validation of the Maternal Attitudes Toward Breastfeeding in Public Scale.

BACKGROUND

Public breastfeeding is influenced by social norms, cultural perceptions, and personal comfort, yet there is a lack of standardized instruments to assess societal attitudes toward breastfeeding in public spaces.

RESEARCH AIM: To develop and validate the Maternal Attitudes toward Breastfeeding in Public Scale (MABPS), an instrument designed to assess mothers' perceptions of societal attitudes toward their own breastfeeding in public spaces.

METHODS

The cross-sectional validation study was conducted with a sample of 320 breastfeeding women in Turkey. The development process included: (i) conceptual framework formulation based on an extensive literature review, (ii) content validity assessment by experts in maternal and child health, (iii) construct validity using Exploratory and Confirmatory Factor Analyses (EFA & CFA), (iv) internal consistency analysis via Cronbach's Alpha, and (v) reliability assessment via Split-half and item analysis.

RESULTS

The final version of the MABPS consists of three subdimensions: (1) Breastfeeding Comfort in Public, (2) Support for Breastfeeding, and (3) Barriers to Public Breastfeeding. Factor loadings ranged from 0.56 to 0.84 and the model fit indices (CFI = 0.930, TLI = 0.912, RMSEA = 0.069) indicated good construct validity. Internal consistency was high (Cronbach's Alpha = 0.859).

CONCLUSION

The MABPS is a valid and reliable instrument for assessing public attitudes toward breastfeeding in social spaces. This tool can support policy-making, social interventions, and awareness campaigns to normalize and promote public breastfeeding.