BACKGROUND: To achieve the goal of increasing the proportion and duration of breastfeeding in Taiwan, it is essential to assess the role of attitudes in determining which method of infant feeding will be chosen. Understanding maternal attitudes toward infant feeding methods may have utility in the development and implementation of public health policy and interventions facilitating increasing breastfeeding rates. However, no validated instrument to assess breastfeeding attitudes is available in Chinese for use in Taiwan. OBJECTIVE: To translate the Iowa Infant Feeding Attitude Scale (IIFAS) into Chinese and assess its psychometric properties among Taiwanese breastfeeding women. DESIGN: Methodological study. SETTING: One public hospital in Taichung city, Taiwan. PARTICIPANTS: A convenience sample of 140 in-hospital breastfeeding women was recruited. METHODS: The IIFAS was translated into Chinese using forward translation, back-translation, semantic equivalence, and pilot testing. Predict validity and internal consistency was assessed. The final sample consisted of 120 women (14% attrition) that were interviewed by telephone at 6 weeks postpartum to record the breastfeeding duration and infant feeding method. RESULTS: One item was modified to better reflect the item content. In-hospital IIFAS scores significantly predicted breastfeeding duration as well as exclusive breastfeeding at 6 weeks postpartum. The Cronbach's alpha coefficient for internal consistency was 0.74. CONCLUSIONS: This study provides evidence that the Chinese version of the IIFAS can be considered valid and reliable scale for assessing attitudes toward breastfeeding among breastfeeding women in Taiwan.
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