Social media intervention for promoting breastfeeding among WIC participants

• Published in: Food science & nutrition Vol. 11; no. 11; pp. 6945 - 6954
• Main Authors: Sanchez, Louisiana M, Park, Sung-Yeon, Kohnen, Taya, Sarnquist, Bret, Jeon, Hyo Jin Jean, Granner, Michelle, Morning, Kelly, MacNeil, Patricia, Deavers, Olivia, Soto, Valery, Christiansen, Elizabeth
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States John Wiley & Sons, Inc 01-11-2023; John Wiley and Sons Inc
• Subjects: Attitudes; Breast feeding; Digital media; Effectiveness; Exposure; Intervention; Messages; Mothers; Nutrition; Original; Social interactions; Social networks; Social support; Websites; Womens health; United States > US; WIC; social support; self‐efficacy; breast feeding; Facebook; social media; attitude
• ISSN: 2048-7177; 2048-7177
• DOI: 10.1002/fsn3.3620

Social media have emerged as a promising communication channel for promoting breastfeeding among a new generation of mothers. Yet, there is no published study reporting the effects of a large-scale social media intervention on key breastfeeding-related perceptions, attitudes, and behaviors. As a component of its breastfeeding promotion campaign, the Women, Infants, and Children (WIC) program implemented a 12-month intervention using Facebook and Instagram and subsequently evaluated the outcomes by surveying WIC-participating women (
 = 832) twice, immediately before and after the intervention. Based on their level of exposure to the intervention messages, the women were retrospectively classified into two groups, resulting in a two-group (no-low exposure vs. medium-high exposure) quasi-experiment. Women in the medium-high exposure group, in comparison with women in the no-low exposure group, exhibited higher campaign awareness (
 < .001), visits to the campaign website (
 < .001), and engagement with the website content (
 < .001). They also reported more positive breastfeeding attitudes (
 = 17.26 vs.
 = 16.51,
 < .05), self-efficacy (
 = 54.48 vs.
 = 49.94,
 < .01), and social support (
 = 27.37 vs.
 = 25.11,
 < .001). But they did not differ from women in the no-low exposure group in breastfeeding initiation (
 > .05) and duration (
 > .05). In conclusion, a social media-based intervention resulted in more positive breastfeeding attitudes, higher self-efficacy, and higher perceived social support. Future studies need to investigate the optimal level of intervention message dosage that prompts significant behavioral changes.