Designing a Scale to Assess Breastfeeding Support among Public Health Nurses in Japan

Background: Promoting breastfeeding support by public health nurses (PHN) requires first that the support which they currently provide to be assessed. However, there is no assessment tool for this purpose. The aim of this study was therefore to develop a scale to assess breastfeeding support currently provided by PHN. Methods: We developed the Practice of Breastfeeding Support Scale (PBSS) for PHN based on the results of a previous study. The content validity of the PBSS was established through discussion with three other researchers. A pilot study was conducted to confirm face validity. To confirm reliability and validity, an anonymous, self-reported questionnaire was sent to PHN working in municipal offices. The statistical analyses included the Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin (KMO), Barlett’s Test of Sphericity, exploratory factor analysis (EFA), Cronbach’s alpha and correlation coefficient. Results: 768 PHN participated in this study. Cronbach’s alpha of PBSS was 0.85. The KMO measure was 0.892, and Bartlett’s Test of Sphericity was p