systematic review and meta-analysis of the relationship between health education and breastfeeding self-efficacy among mothers

This study aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of health education in improving breastfeeding self-efficacy among mothers. this study followed the “prisma guidelines (preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses)”. we conducted a thorough search of literature published between 2018 and september 2023 across several databases, including pubmed, medline, cochrane library, cinahl, google scholar, and proquest. two authors independently screened titles and abstracts of the remaining studies using the abstrackr tool. the quality assessment and risk of bias evaluation were conducted using the “joanna briggs institute (jbi)” tool for randomized controlled trials. data analysis was conducted using revman software version 5, calculating mean differences between intervention and control groups to determine the intervention’s effect size. our systematic review included a total of nine articles with 864 participants, with 418 assigned to the intervention group and 446 to the control group. all studies reported significant increases in breastfeeding self-efficacy. the results indicated a substantial positive effect of the educational intervention on breastfeeding self-efficacy, resulting in a z-score of 5.36 and a p-value of less than 0.001. the heterogeneity among the studies was high (i2 = 87%). a symmetrical funnel plot (figure 3) suggested no significant publication bias, as confirmed by egger’s and begg’s tests. health education is an intervention that is routinely carried out in various countries to increase breastfeeding self-efficacy among mothers. from the results of previous research, a personal approach needs to be taken in health education so that this intervention can run more optimally.