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. 2012 Jan;8(1):57-71.
doi: 10.1111/j.1740-8709.2011.00362.x. Epub 2011 Nov 8.

Using cognitive-behavioural techniques to improve exclusive breastfeeding in a low-literacy disadvantaged population

Atif Rahman  1 , Zaeem Haq, Siham Sikander, Ikhlaq Ahmad, Mansoor Ahmad, Assad Hafeez
Affiliations

Using cognitive-behavioural techniques to improve exclusive breastfeeding in a low-literacy disadvantaged population

Atif Rahman et al. Matern Child Nutr. 2012 Jan.

Abstract

Despite being an important component of Pakistan's primary health care programme, the rates of exclusive breastfeeding at 6 months remain among the lowest in the world. Low levels of literacy in women and deeply held cultural beliefs and practices have been found to contribute to the ineffectiveness of routine counselling delivered universally by community health workers in Pakistan. We aimed to address this by incorporating techniques of cognitive-behavioural therapy (CBT) into the routine counselling process. We conducted qualitative studies of stakeholders' opinions (mothers, community health workers, their trainers and programme managers) and used this data to develop a psycho-educational approach that combined education with techniques of CBT that could be integrated into the health workers' routine work. The workers were trained to use this approach and feedback was obtained after implementation. The new intervention was successfully integrated into the community health worker programme and found to be culturally acceptable, feasible and useful. Incorporating techniques of CBT into routine counselling may be useful to promote health behaviours in traditional societies with low literacy rates.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no conflicts of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Phases of the study (FGD, focus group discussion; IDI, in‐depth interview.).
See this image and copyright information in PMC

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