Work package A.1.2. Anonymous quantitative cross-sectional survey
Based on the current literature and the qualitative interviews (Work package A.1.1), a paper–pencil questionnaire will be developed to assess the current status of breastfeeding and lactation support from the perspective of the mothers concerned.Topics to be covered by the questionnaire include:How was breastfeeding and lactation support experienced?How was lactation initiated and maintained?How was/were the infant(s) fed in the NICU?What is the attitude towards milk donation, as well as the acceptance of HDM?Where possible, validated instruments will be used. If no suitable instruments are available, questions developed in-house will be applied. This will involve a multidisciplinary team consisting of, among others, social scientists, sociologists, and physicians. The questionnaire will be pre-tested by the relevant target group before implementation and will be sent out by the cooperating health insurance companies. In Germany, everyone is obliged to have health insurance. For this survey, four statutory health insurance companies with a market share of 28% are cooperating. Mothers insured by the participating health insurance companies whose infants are between six and 18 months old at the time of the survey will be invited to participate. Identification in the health insurance data will be by the following ICD-10 codes: P07.01, P07.02, P07.10 and P07.11. The expected sample size is approximately 2,000, whereof a response rate of approximately 30% is expected. An unconditional incentive (plaster set and gummy bears) will be enclosed with the survey documents. At the same time, every participant will have the opportunity to take part in a raffle for gift vouchers and small prizes. The anonymous questionnaires will be automatically read and processed for further statistical evaluation. Descriptive and multivariate analytical evaluations will be carried out.