Table 4.
Validation Studies of Breastfeeding Social Support Assessment Tools.
| Tool (Citation) | Place of Validation |
Population Tested |
Content Validity | Construct Validity | Predictive Validity | Reliability | Domains/Factors Identified |
| Workplace Breastfeeding Support Scale (Bai, Peng, & Fly, 2008) | Central Indiana, United States | 66 Mothers (6-12 months postpartum, worked outside home) | Four experts (specialists in nutrition, lactation, scale development, and survey instrument development) | Factor analysis of responses; Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin test (0.71) | Not discussed | Cronbach’s alpha = 0.77 | (1) Technical support, (2) breastfeeding friendly environment, (3) facility support, (4) peer support |
| Utilization of Support Network Questionnaire (Buckner & Matsubara, 1993) | Alabama, United States | 126 Mothers who desired to breastfeed their newborns | Lactation consultants/expert review | Not discussed | Not discussed | Cronbach’s alpha = 0.93 | (1) Supply/demand principles and answering questions, (2) encouragement and supply/demand principles, (3) confidence and encouragement |
| Modified Breastfeeding Attrition Prediction Tool (Evans, Dick, Lewallen, & Jeffrey, 2004) | Southeast United States | 141 Pregnant women attending prenatal breastfeeding classes who planned to breastfeed | Adapted from Breastfeeding Attrition Prediction Tool (Janke, 1994, 1995) and Dick et al. (2002) | Not discussed | “A significant association existed between educational level and breastfeeding status” and having close relatives who breastfed | Internal consistency reliability = 0.753 | Not discussed |
| Supportive Needs of Adolescents Breastfeeding Scale (Grassley, Spencer, & Bryson, 2013) | 3 Urban hospitals in the United States | 101 New mothers ages 15-20 years old who intended to breastfeed | 8 Certified lactation consultants | Factor analysis; Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin test (0.74) | Not tested | Cronbach’s alpha = 0.83 | Combinations of (1) instrumental, appraisal, and emotional support; (2) informational, appraisal, and emotional support; (3) “miscellaneous items about engaging the adolescents’ support persons” |
| Breastfeeding and Employment Study: Employee Survey (EPBSQ) (Greene & Olson, 2008; Greene, Wolfe, & Olson, 2008) | East Lansing, Michigan, United States (Michigan State University) | 104 Women who were pregnant or recently gave birth and planned to return to work full-time within 3 months of delivery | Literature review, 11 experts (licensed practitioners and researchers), interviews with 14 women who had breastfed during employment | Multidimensional Random Coefficients Multinomial Logit Model, a “multidimensional extension of the Rasch measurement model” | Not discussed | Reliability = 0.68-0.89 | (1) Company policies/work culture, (2) manager/coworker support |
| Perceived Breastfeeding Support Assessment Tool (Hirani, Karmaliani, Christie, Parpio, & Rafique, 2013) | Pakistan | 200 Breastfeeding working mothers | 7 Experts (lactation consultant, nutritionist, pediatric consultant, physician, nurse, psychologist) | Factor analysis: Kaiser-Meyer-Olkin test (0.762); principal components analysis (eigenvalues > 1.00) | Workplace environmental support was higher for mothers with more education, who worked more hours, and who had maternal leave. Those with higher levels of workplace and social support were modeled to be more likely to continue breastfeeding while working. | Cronbach’s alpha = 0.85 | (1) Workplace environmental support, (2) social environmental support |
| Hughes Breastfeeding Social Scale (Hughes, 1984) | Southeastern United States | 10 Breastfeeding primiparae | 6 Experts (pediatrician, pediatric resident, pediatric nurse practitioner/clinical specialist, and 3 registered nurses) | Spearman-Brown prophecy formula (0.85-0.89) | Not discussed | Alpha = 0.86, 0.88, 0.84 | (1) Emotional support, (2) instrumental support, (3) informational support |
| Matich and Sims Scale (Matich & Sims, 1992) | Central Pennsylvania, United States | 159 Pregnant women attending prenatal clinics and classes or Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children clinics | “Experts in nutrition and social support measurement” | Factor analysis, principal components analysis, and “orthogonal rotation of factors using the Varimax procedure” | Not discussed | Coefficient alphas = 0.88, 0.94, 0.93 | (1) Tangible support, (2) emotional support, (3) informational support |