Introduction: Breastfeeding is the optimal method for feeding an infant. It has many benefits over bottle feeding for the baby, mother and the environment. Breastfeeding technique must be appropriate in order to be successful and smooth. By consistent observing and evaluating of breastfeeding, the nurse can identify problems in a timely manner and provide assistance to the mother. Assessment tools for breastfeeding can help her to do that. Purpose: The purpose of this diploma work is to review the methods of breastfeeding assessment and assessment tools used for this purpose and to compare them through a literature review. Methods: The descriptive method of work is used in this diploma work with a systematic review of literature in Slovenian and English language. The search through the literature was conducted by using the following databases: CINAHL, Medline, ScienceDirect and COBIB.SI. Six articles were included in the review. Results: More than 15 breastfeeding assessment tools have been developed in recent years. Breastfeeding assessment tools vary greatly depending on the content of the assessment, the scoring system, whom they are evaluating and who can use them. A comparison between those tools showed out that there is no unified standard for determination which breastfeeding categories should be included into all of the tools compared. Effectiveness of feeding is a category of breastfeeding which is most frequently incorporated into the reviewed tools. The areas which are not so well covered, are the health of the baby and mother's experience with breastfeeding. Researchers have come to different conclusions about the reliability and validity of the tools. Discussion and conclusion: There is only little consistency amongst researchers as to which areas in breastfeeding are considered as the most important ones, and as a consequence of that reviewed tools reveal very little commonality. In terms of content, The breastfeeding evaluation and education tool shows to be the most thorough evaluation tool of breastfeeding among all the tools discussed, as it covers all nine categories of successful breastfeeding. The results of the various researches are inconsistent in the reliability and validity of the tools. None of the tools has yet been formally tested for validity and reliability, so we cannot determine which tool is best suited for use in clinical practice.
|