Knowledge and Attitude Related to Human Milk Banking Among Staff Nurses Working in Selected Hospitals of District Shimla, Himachal Pradesh

Introduction: Breast feeding is most natural way to feed the baby. It provides nutrition and immunological support to a baby during the first six months. When the mother’s milk is not within easy reach for sick and preterm babies, pasteurized donated human breast milk is the second best. Objective: To assess the knowledge related to Human Milk Banking among Staff Nurses. To assess the attitude related to Human Milk Banking among Staff Nurses. To find out the association of knowledge score and attitude score related to Human Milk Banking with selected demographic variables. To find out the correlation between knowledge and attitude related to Human Milk Banking among Staff Nurses. Materials and Methods: A descriptive study was conducted on 100 samples of staff nurses working in selected hospitals of District Shimla. The convenient sampling technique was used. A self-structured knowledge questionnaire and attitude scale related to human milk banking was used to collect data from the sample. Results: The results of study revealed that majority 81% staff nurses were having average knowledge whereas 11% were having poor knowledge and very few 8% were having good knowledge. Majority of staff nurses possess favorable attitude (68%) and few (32%) of them neutral attitude. There is no significance association between knowledge score and attitude score with their demographical variables (age, professional qualification, working area, year of experience, awareness and attended any workshop/training related to human milk banking). The study shows that there was a significant positive correlation(r = 0.064) at 0.05 level of significance between knowledge and attitude related to human milk banking. Conclusion: Results of present study showed that majority of staff nurses in our hospital were aware about human milk banking but only few of them had attended workshops/seminars related to human milk banking.