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P Hoddinott

Publications and source records attributed to P Hoddinott.

7 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed2000

Identifying which women will stop breast feeding before three months in primary care: a pragmatic study.

BACKGROUND: In Britain only 42% of women who initiate breast feeding are still breast feeding at four months, despite well documented health benefits. AIM: To explore whether sociodemographic and social support information collected routinely by health visitors at the new birth assessment can help predict which women will give up breast feeding before three months. METHOD: A survey of 279 consecutive births in three general practices in an inner-London borough. Health visitors collected sociodemographic, infant feeding, and social support data at the new birth assessment 10 to 14 days after birth and at an immunisation visit at three to four months after birth. A data collection form was piloted and used by health visitors as part of their routine clinical care. Stepwise logistic regression was performed on 160 women who initiated breast feeding to identify predictors for those who would still be breast feeding at three months. RESULTS: Three variables were found to be significantly associated with breast feeding at three months. Younger women and women with moderate to poor emotional support as assessed by their health visitor were less likely to still be breast feeding at three months. White women who left full-time education at age 16 years or below are least likely to be breast feeding at three months but educational level is not a significant predictor for women from other ethnic backgrounds. CONCLUSION: This pragmatic study illustrates how information collected during routine clinical care by health visitors can help predict which women will give up breast feeding before three months. This could be useful to identify women whose social support needs are not being met and who may benefit from local initiatives. Infant feeding researchers should consider the influence of ethnicity and levels of social support on breast feeding outcomes.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1999

Qualitative study of decisions about infant feeding among women in east end of London.

OBJECTIVE: To improve understanding of how first time mothers who belong to a socioeconomic group with particularly low rates of breast feeding decide whether or not to initiate breast feeding. DESIGN: Qualitative semistructured interviews early in pregnancy and 6-10 weeks after birth. SETTING: Women's homes in east end of London. SUBJECTS: 21 white, low income women expecting their first baby were interviewed mostly at home, often with their partner or a relative. Two focus groups were conducted. RESULTS: Women who had regularly seen a relative or friend successfully breast feed and described this experience positively were more confident about and committed to breast feeding. They were also more likely to succeed. Exposure to breast feeding, however, could be either a positive or a negative influence on the decision to breast feed, depending on the context. Women who had seen breast feeding only by a stranger often described this as a negative influence, particularly if other people were present. All women knew that breast feeding has health benefits. Ownership of this knowledge, however, varied according to the woman's experience of seeing breast feeding. CONCLUSIONS: The decision to initiate breast feeding is influenced more by embodied knowledge gained from seeing breast feeding than by theoretical knowledge about its benefits. Breast feeding involves performing a practical skill, often with others present. The knowledge, confidence, and commitment necessary to breast feed may be more effectively gained through antenatal apprenticeship to a breastfeeding mother than from advice given in consultations or from books.

Adolescent↗
PubMed1997

Qualitative research interviewing by general practitioners. A personal view of the opportunities and pitfalls.

OBJECTIVE: This study looked look at the role of the GP as a qualitative research interviewer and aimed to illustrate areas of methodological difficulty using personal observations made during a qualitative study in general practice. METHODS AND RESULTS: The recently published literature on qualitative research in general practice was reviewed by the author to inform her own qualitative study looking at how women decide how to feed their babies. Some women in the study were patients of the author; some knew that she is a GP but were registered at another practice and some did not know that she is a doctor. In-depth and semi-structured interviews were tape recorded and transcribed. Observations about combining general practice and qualitative research were recorded by the author in a research diary. CONCLUSION: Qualitative research is being advocated as a methodology appropriate for general practice, yet there are many unanswered questions about methodological detail. There are no guidelines to help GPs to decide whether it is appropriate for them to do the interviewing, the practicalities of doing it, and whether they should use their own patients. There is clearly a need for more methodological research to look at how these decisions influence the data and to inform GPs who are considering a qualitative study.

Breast Feeding↗
PubMed1997

A review of recently published qualitative research in general practice. More methodological questions than answers?

OBJECTIVE: This study aimed to review published papers which use qualitative interviewing in general practice as their methodology. To look specifically at the detail of how the methodology is presented to the reader, with particular emphasis on the clarity of detail about recruitment, the relationship of the interviewer to the respondents, the setting and how the research was presented to the respondents. METHODS AND RESULTS: A systematic search using Medline and hand searching the British Journal of General Practice, Family Practice and Social Science and Medicine identified 29 recent papers using qualitative interviewing techniques in general practice. The papers were analysed for eight methodological criteria by the author. A second analysis, blind to the results of the first analysis was performed by the author 6 weeks later. An independent assessor analysed 12 randomly selected papers. There was 98.3% intra-assessor agreement and 89.6% inter-assessor agreement about whether the eight criteria were met. Overall 140 of a possible 232 criteria were met (60.3%). CONCLUSION: Published papers using qualitative interviewing in general practice often lack explicit methodological detail about the relationship between the interviewer and the respondents, the setting, who did the recruiting and how the research was explained to the respondents. This methodological detail is important for the critical appraisal of qualitative research, where the context of the research can influence the data.

Family Practice↗