Breastfeeding and its dimensions: an integrative review of health students' knowledge.
Patricia Lima Pereira Peres, Maria Helena do Nascimento Souza, Thaís Emanuele da Conceição, Rosane Harter Griep, Rafael Braga Esteves, Antonella Nespoli, Donatella Valente, Giovanni Galeoto
Abstract
Open AccessOBJECTIVE: to analyze Brazilian and international scientific production on undergraduate health students' knowledge about breastfeeding and the intrinsic dimensions of this topic. METHOD: an integrative review, carried out in the Embase, MEDLINE/PubMed, CINAHL, LILACS, Web of Science, Scopus, Cochrane and SciELO databases. RESULTS: seventeen articles were identified. The analysis showed that, in most studies, students' knowledge was restricted to the biological and management dimensions of lactation, while the sociocultural, legislation, breastfeeding protection policy and healthy complementary feeding dimensions were little explored and presented average knowledge. CONCLUSION: the weaknesses in students' knowledge pointed to the importance of expanding studies on training future healthcare professionals regarding the multidimensionality of breastfeeding, with a view to improving learning of strategies aimed at promoting, protecting, and supporting breastfeeding.