Breastfeeding Practices and Pupils’ Adaptability Skills in Akwa Ibom North West Senatorial District
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Abstract
This study investigated the influence of breastfeeding practices on pupils’ adaptability skills in Akwa Ibom North West Senatorial District. Three research questions and three null hypotheses were postulated to guide the study. The population consisted of 2,107 nursery one teachers and 12,346 pupils’ parents in 183 private schools in North West Senatorial District of Akwa Ibom State. Breastfeeding Practices Questionnaire (BPQ) for mothers and Pupils’ Adaptability Skills Rating Scale (PASRS) were used as the instrument for the study. The instrument validity and reliability was determined using Cronbach’s Alpha statistics which yielded reliability indices of 0.76 and 0.81 respectively. Mean and standard deviation were used in answering the research questions while analysis of variance (ANOVA) was used to test the hypotheses at 0.05 level of significance. The findings showed that there is a significant mean difference in pupils’ problem-solving, communication, and interpersonal skills based on breastfeeding practices in Akwa Ibom North West Senatorial District. Based on the findings of the study, it was recommended among others that nursing mothers attending antenatal and child care centres should be educated by nurses, midwives and other health care personnel on the need for practising exclusive breastfeeding as it contains complex nutritional fluid and hormones for the child, which many cannot be included in mixed feeding practices.
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