Demographic Determinants of Access to and Usage of Breastfeeding Information among Parents in Mbeya City, Tanzania

Abstract

The main purpose of this study was to examine the influence of demographic characteristicson access to and use of breastfeeding information among parents in Mbeya City, Tanzania.The study mainly deployed a quantitative approach to collect, process and analyze data inorder to measure the influence of selected demographic characteristics on access to and useof breastfeeding information. The data collected were analyzed using SPSS to derivedescriptive and inferential statistics. The findings suggest that the relationship betweenaccess and access and use of formal breastfeeding sources of information is weak (i.e. rho isfar from 1) and insignificant (i.e. p> .005) while the relationship between access and use ofinformal sources of breastfeeding information is strong (i.e. rho is closer to 1) and significant(i.e. p < 0.05). These indicate that informal sources remain potential sources forbreastfeeding for breastfeeding information among parents. Further, demographiccharacteristics (i.e. gender, age, marital status, level of education, and income) have beenfound to be important predictors to access and usage of breastfeeding information amongparents in the study area. In planning for information setting to support accessibility andusability of breastfeeding information, demographic factors have to be taken intoconsiderations.