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 characteristics
on 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 in
order to measure the influence of selected demographic characteristics on access to and use
of breastfeeding information. The data collected were analyzed using SPSS to derive
descriptive and inferential statistics. The findings suggest that the relationship between
access and access and use of formal breastfeeding sources of information is weak (i.e. rho is
far from 1) and insignificant (i.e. p> .005) while the relationship between access and use of
informal 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 for
breastfeeding for breastfeeding information among parents. Further, demographic
characteristics (i.e. gender, age, marital status, level of education, and income) have been
found to be important predictors to access and usage of breastfeeding information among
parents in the study area. In planning for information setting to support accessibility and
usability of breastfeeding information, demographic factors have to be taken into
considerations.