Breastfeeding Education from the Perspective of Midwifery and Nursing Master’s Theses: The Case of Turkey

Abstract

Context: It is stated that breastfeeding education has an important place in promoting and maintaining breastfeeding. The purpose of this systematic review is to examine the postgraduate theses written in the last 10 years in Turkey on breastfeeding training in the field of midwifery/nursing. Methods: This systematic review was carried out considering the PRISMA criteria. The search was carried out in the National Thesis Center database of the Turkey Council of Higher Education (YÖK) using several keywords, including “Breastfeeding”, “Breastfeeding Education”, “Breastfeeding Success”, “Nursing”, and “Midwifery”. The abstracts of 251 theses, which were scanned within March 20 and April 20, 2022, were systematically examined. Then, 24 theses related to breastfeeding and breastfeeding education, which fit the purpose of the study, formed the sample of the research. Results: The theses obtained using keywords were quasi-experimental (42%) studies performed in the postnatal period. Moreover, 79% of the theses were in the field of nursing, and 63% of them were master’s theses. Additionally, 75% of the obtained theses were written in 2018 and later. Conclusions: In the studied theses, it is emphasized that breastfeeding education should be given face to face, starting from the antenatal period.