Background Interventions to promote breastfeeding are the cornerstone of efforts to reduce childhood illness and death from undernutrition. Evidence suggests that one of the most effective strategies to increase breastfeeding is through peer counsellors. However, the experiences of peer counsellors has not been studied in depth. This study aimed to collect and report the experiences of peer counsellors participating in an intervention study to improve breastfeeding in urban Dhaka, Bangladesh. Methods Peer counsellors underwent a 10 day training course in May 2013 which included practical sessions on position and attachment and common difficulties with breastfeeding. Home visits were conducted with new mothers and performance of peer counsellors was monitored by senior breastfeeding counsellors. The number of supervised home visits needed to achieve a satisfactory level of competency was recorded. Demographic data were collected and a structured interview was performed in the first six months of the project (May-September 2013). One structured interview per peer counsellor was conducted by the project manager at the project site office to gain understanding of their experiences in counselling mothers. The interview included some open-ended questions on specific aspects of the training that they found useful, challenges faced, and whether they developed close friendships with the mothers that they were counselling. Results Seventeen peer counsellors with an average age of 31 years (SD 6.8) and at least six years of schooling participated in the study. All peer counsellors were satisfied with their role and with the training that they received, and most felt that they were able to deal with common breastfeeding problems. The peer counsellors reported that building a personal rapport and establishing a peer-to-peer relationship was most important in supporting mothers to breastfeed. Common challenges included interruption of sessions by relatives/children, as well as mothers being too busy for the visits. Conclusion In future peer counselling for breastfeeding projects, more focus could be placed on the communications aspects of the training, especially in how to deal with non-supportive family members and managing interruptions effectively, as well as how to motivate and engage busy new mothers.

中文翻译：

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达卡市区同伴辅导员的特征和经验：结构化访谈研究。


背景 促进母乳喂养的干预措施是减少儿童疾病和营养不良导致的死亡的基石。有证据表明，增加母乳喂养的最有效策略之一是通过同伴辅导员。然而，朋辈辅导员的经验尚未得到深入研究。本研究旨在收集和报告参与改善孟加拉国达卡城市母乳喂养的干预研究的同伴辅导员的经验。方法 同伴辅导员于 2013 年 5 月接受了为期 10 天的培训课程，其中包括有关姿势和依恋以及母乳喂养常见困难的实践课程。对新妈妈进行家访，并由高级母乳喂养辅导员监督同伴辅导员的表现。记录达到令人满意的能力水平所需的监督家访次数。在项目的前六个月（2013 年 5 月至 9 月）收集了人口统计数据并进行了结构化访谈。项目现场办公室的项目经理对每位同伴辅导员进行了一次结构化访谈，以了解他们为母亲提供咨询的经验。访谈包括一些开放式问题，涉及他们认为有用的培训具体方面、面临的挑战以及他们是否与接受咨询的母亲建立了密切的友谊。结果 17 名平均年龄为 31 岁（SD 6.8）且至少受过六年学校教育的同伴辅导员参与了这项研究。所有同伴辅导员都对自己的角色和接受的培训感到满意，大多数人认为自己能够处理常见的母乳喂养问题。 同伴辅导员报告说，建立个人融洽的关系和建立同伴关系对于支持母亲母乳喂养最重要。常见的挑战包括亲戚/孩子打扰会议，以及母亲太忙而无法探望。结论 在未来母乳喂养项目的同伴咨询中，可以更多地关注培训的沟通方面，特别是如何处理不支持的家庭成员和有效管理干扰，以及如何激励和吸引忙碌的新妈妈。