The effect of an area-based intervention on breastfeeding rates in Victoria, Australia Kelaher, Margaret, Dunt, David, Feldman, Peter, Nolan, Andrea and Raban, Bridie 2009, The effect of an area-based intervention on breastfeeding rates in Victoria, Australia, Health policy, vol. 90, no. 1, pp. 89-93, doi: 10.1016/j.healthpol.2008.08.004. Attached Files Name Description MIMEType Size Downloads Title The effect of an area-based intervention on breastfeeding rates in Victoria, Australia Author(s) Kelaher, Margaret Dunt, David Feldman, Peter Nolan, Andrea orcid.org/0000-0003-3519-6317 Raban, Bridie Journal name Health policy Volume number 90 Issue number 1 Start page 89 End page 93 Total pages 5 Publisher Elsevier Place of publication Amsterdam, Netherlands Publication date 2009-04 ISSN 0168-8510 1872-6054 Keyword(s) partnership health services breastfeeding Summary Objectives Best Start is an area-based early childhood intervention where projects are developed and implemented through a community partnership. A core tenet of the initiative is that implementing projects through a partnership generates greater value than would be expected if projects were undertaken independently by partner members. In this study we examine whether: (1) Best Start is effective in increasing the proportion of infants being fully breastfed at 3 months and 6 months. (2) The quality of community partnerships is a potential mechanism for change. Methods Best Start was implemented in Victoria, Australia. The study examined breastfeeding rates before and after Best Start in sites with Best Start breastfeeding projects compared to the rest of state. The relationship between partnership quality scores and breastfeeding percentages was also examined. Both analyses controlled for socioeconomic and demographic differences and clustering by area. Results Best Start targeted some of the most socially disadvantaged communities in Victoria. In the 3 years of its operation, the rates of fully breastfeeding at 3 months (OR 1.30, 95% CI 1.14–1.47) and 6 months (OR 1.33, 95% CI 1.1–1.61) increased in Best Start sites compared to the rest of the state. Quality of partnership scores was positively associated with increased percentages of fully breastfeeding (3 months = OR 1.03, 95% CI 1.01–1.06; 6 months = OR 1.03, 95% CI 0.98–1.08). Conclusions These results suggest that area-based interventions are effective in increasing percentages of fully breastfeeding. The study also supported the idea that developing quality community partnerships had a positive influence on their success. Language eng DOI 10.1016/j.healthpol.2008.08.004 Field of Research 111704 Community Child Health 130399 Specialist Studies in Education not elsewhere classified Socio Economic Objective 970113 Expanding Knowledge in Education HERDC Research category C1 Refereed article in a scholarly journal Copyright notice ©2008, Elsevier Ireland Ltd Persistent URL http://hdl.handle.net/10536/DRO/DU:30017599 Document type: Journal Article Collections: Faculty of Health School of Nursing and Midwifery Related Links Link Description Connect to published version (restricted access) Go to link with your DU access privileges     Unless expressly stated otherwise, the copyright for items in DRO is owned by the author, with all rights reserved. Versions Version Filter Type Fri, 14 Aug 2009, 13:55:05 EST Tue, 15 Sep 2009, 08:24:27 EST Tue, 15 Sep 2009, 08:27:38 EST Tue, 15 Sep 2009, 08:42:21 EST Tue, 20 Apr 2010, 10:04:25 EST Mon, 16 Jun 2014, 12:01:30 EST Thu, 24 Jul 2014, 08:40:07 EST Thu, 24 Jul 2014, 09:15:34 EST Fri, 25 Jul 2014, 14:26:34 EST Wed, 27 Aug 2014, 21:54:48 EST Filtered Full Citation counts:   Cited 11 times in TR Web of Science Cited 9 times in Scopus Search Google Scholar Access Statistics: 1085 Abstract Views, 4 File Downloads  -  Detailed Statistics Created: Fri, 14 Aug 2009, 13:55:05 EST