University of Central Florida STARS Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 2015 Helping Mothers Defend their Decision to Breastfeed Kandis Natoli University of Central Florida Part of the Nursing Commons Find similar works at: https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd University of Central Florida Libraries http://library.ucf.edu This Doctoral Dissertation (Open Access) is brought to you for free and open access by STARS. It has been accepted for inclusion in Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019 by an authorized administrator of STARS. For more information, please contact
[email protected]. STARS Citation Natoli, Kandis, "Helping Mothers Defend their Decision to Breastfeed" (2015). Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2004-2019. 1392. https://stars.library.ucf.edu/etd/1392 HELPING MOTHERS DEFEND THEIR DECISION TO BREASTFEED by KANDIS M. NATOLI M.S.N. University of Central Florida, 2006 B.S.N. University of Central Florida, 2005 A dissertation submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Nursing in the College of Nursing at the University of Central Florida Orlando Florida Fall Term 2015 Major Professor: Karen Arioan © 2015 Kandis M. Natoli ii ABSTRACT The United States has established breastfeeding as an important health indicator within the Healthy People agenda. Healthy People target goals for breastfeeding initiation, duration, and exclusivity remain unmet. The US Surgeon General’s Office reports that lack of knowledge and widespread misinformation about breastfeeding are barriers to meeting Healthy People goals. Breastfeeding mothers are vulnerable to messages that cast doubt on their ability to breastfeed. Very little research has examined specific approaches to help people resist negative messages about health beliefs and behaviors.