First Advisor

Claywell, Lora

Thesis Committee Member(s)

Cullen, Patricia L.

College

Rueckert-Hartman College for Health Professions

Degree Name

Doctor of Nursing Practice

School

Loretto Heights School of Nursing

Document Type

Thesis - Open Access

Number of Pages

105 pages

Abstract

Executive Summary Measuring Changes in Knowledge and Attitudes of NICU Providers after Receiving an Educational Intervention about the Value of Human Milk in the Preterm Infant Problem Identification Human milk is proven to decrease morbidities and mortality in extremely low birth weight neonates. Health care providers must approach the mothers of these infants and explain the need for own mother's milk or consent for the use of donor milk in these infants. Providers may lack the knowledge about the importance of human milk in NICU infants, or may hold negative attitudes about human milk's contribution to the health of these infants (Agostoni & Manzoni, 2013; Ahrabi & Schanler, 2013). Purpose The purpose of this project was to examine an educational intervention's effectiveness in increasing knowledge and changing attitudes of health care providers with regard to the importance and value of human milk for the infants in the NICU. Goals The goals of the capstone project were to provide an educational intervention aimed at health care providers and to increasing knowledge and changing attitudes of those professionals. Objectives Objectives were increasing and substantiating knowledge, and evaluating the effect of the intervention of those objectives. Short-term objectives were to heighten awareness, and long term objectives to increase the use of human milk in the NICU. Plan Institutional Review Boards of both Regis University and the clinical site, University of Louisville, approved the proposed project. A time line was developed, and the project was implemented. The educational intervention was developed using a PowerPoint presentation on "Human Milk for Human Babies" and was presented in three different educational sessions to health care providers using the inclusions in the proposal. Outcome and Results Participants completed the pre-tests and post-tests and data was imputed into the SPSS statistical software. Paired t-tests for dependent groups were conducted. The independent variable was pre-exposure and post-exposure to the educational intervention on the value of human milk, The dependent variables were responses to pre-test questions as compared to post-test questions. After analysis of the pre-test and post-test results, using two-tailed paired t-tests, statistical significance was noted at the < 0.05 level, both for knowledge and attitude differences. The results suggest increased knowledge and changed attitudes in those who participated. The value of this conclusion indicates that more education would be valuable to all NICU providers.

Date of Award

Fall 2014

Location (Creation)

Colorado (state); Denver (county); Denver (inhabited place)

Rights Statement

All content in this Collection is owned by and subject to the exclusive control of Regis University and the authors of the materials. It is available only for research purposes and may not be used in violation of copyright laws or for unlawful purposes. The materials may not be downloaded in whole or in part without permission of the copyright holder or as otherwise authorized in the “fair use” standards of the U.S. copyright laws and regulations.

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