The School of Nursing, Midwifery and Health Systems at University College Dublin is exploring how primary healthcare professionals can better support and promote breastfeeding. As part of this work, they have launched a survey for community pharmacists and in this article, Denise McGuinness and Niamh Vickers outline what they hope to achieve with the survey.
The World Health Organization recommends exclusive breastfeeding for the first six months of life followed by continued breastfeeding and complementary solid foods up to two years and beyond. With recognised low breastfeeding rates in Ireland the promotion and success of breastfeeding is a societal responsibility. All primary healthcare professionals interacting with pregnant and postnatal women have a role to play as we strive to support breastfeeding in Ireland and improve maternal and infant health outcomes, supporting the HSE’s National Maternity Strategy: Implementation Plan 2021-2026).
We have recently completed a national survey exploring the knowledge, attitudes and practices (KAPs) of GPs, GP trainees and General Practice Nurses, and the results are informing future lactation education and training.
Our next step is to explore the knowledge, attitudes and training of community pharmacists in Ireland. Findings from this research will inform future developments in education and training programmes to support breastfeeding practices in Ireland.
This will be a national cross-sectional study of community pharmacists in the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland. Low risk ethical approval has been obtained from University College Dublin. A 30-item survey will be utilised to collect community pharmacists’ breastfeeding and lactation knowledge, attitudes and training in Ireland. The survey is a validated tool previously developed by Dr Dipa Kamdar, MPharm Kingston University, UK and we thank Dr Kamdar for permission to use this survey for our research among community pharmacists in Ireland. The survey was modified to the Irish context by two senior pharmacists, a data analyst and International Board Certified Lactation Consultants (IBCLCs).
The survey tool will enable the researchers to collect demographic information, experiences, knowledge and training among community pharmacist’s related to lactation. The survey tool is divided into four sections: demographic data, education and training, general knowledge about breastfeeding and pharmacists’ views. A comment box is provided at the end of the survey where community pharmacists can provide additional comments should they wish. We estimate the survey will take 10 minutes to complete.
“ The survey tool will enable the researchers to collect demographic information, experiences, knowledge and training among community pharmacists related to lactation.”
A participant information leaflet and consent form will be available to read and sign prior to participating in the survey. Participation will be voluntary and there are no foreseeable risks to the community pharmacist’s participating. Participation is anonymous and results will be grouped and reported as an overall survey. Data will be analysed by an experienced data analyst.
Community pharmacists interested in participating in the research study will be able to access the survey via a link/QR code to the Qualtrics platform.
For further information about the study please contact denise.mcguinness@ucd.ie or niamh.vickers@ucd.ie.
Survey details
The link to the survey is available at tinyurl.com/PharmBF, or via the QR code.
The survey runs from 3 April 2025 to 6 June 2025.
Denise McGuinness, Assistant Professor/Lecturer in Midwifery and Niamh Vickers, Assistant Professor Public Health Nursing, School of Nursing, Midwifery & Health Systems, University College Dublin
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