A Bayesian Binary Logistic Regression Approach in Identifying Factors Associated with Exclusive Breastfeeding Practices at Arba Minch Town, South Ethiopia

Aim: To assess the prevalence and the factors associated with the exclusive breast feeding practices among women with infants less than six months of age at Arba Minch town in order to fill the existing information gap in the area.

Study Design: Community based cross sectional study design and a single stage simple random sampling technique was used to select a sample.

Methodology: A sample of 330 women was determined among mothers with infants less than six months of age using a formula for estimation of single population proportion. Descriptive analysis was used to estimate the prevalence and potential predictors were selected by bivariate analysis using chi-square test of association between exclusive breast feeding practices and each predictor. Bayesian binary logistic regression analysis was employed to identify the factors affecting exclusive breast feeding.

Results: From a sample of 330 women with infants of less than six months of age, the prevalence of exclusive breastfeeding practice was found to be 53.9 %. From binary logistic regression analysis based on the Bayesian 95% credible intervals, age of mothers, mother’s educational status, use of antenatal care service during pregnancy, birth orders of the child, exclusive breastfeeding counseling during pregnancy, use of postnatal care, timely initiation of breastfeeding, and attitude towards breast feeding were found to be statistically significant factors affecting exclusive breastfeeding since the credible intervals of posterior mean given by the MCMC method did not include 0.

Conclusions: Use of antenatal care during pregnancy, counseling about the benefits of exclusive breast feeding during pregnancy, awareness about exclusive breast feeding, timely initiation of breastfeeding and attitude towards breast feeding were factors that affected exclusive breast feeding practices among women.