Fathers' attitudes toward breastfeeding, their participation, and influence: a cross-sectional study in Turkey.

BACKGROUND: Although breastfeeding is strongly recommended for optimal maternal and infant health, global rates remain suboptimal. Fathers play an important role in supporting breastfeeding through their attitudes and participation. However, evidence on how fathers' attitudes, participation, and influence affect breastfeeding practices and maternal decision-making regarding breastfeeding continuation and cessation is limited. Understanding these relationships can inform family centered interventions and strategies to improve breastfeeding outcomes, highlighting the practical significance of this study beyond contributing to the literature. This study aimed to examine fathers' attitudes toward breastfeeding, their level of participation in the breastfeeding process, and their influence on breastfeeding. METHODS: This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted in Turkey and included 269 fathers who met the following inclusion criteria: agreeing to participate in the research, living in Turkey, being able to read and understand Turkish, and having a baby aged 0-24 months. Data were collected using the Sociodemographic Data Collection Form, the Fathers' Breastfeeding Attitude and Participation Scale, and the Partner Breastfeeding Influence Scale. Descriptive statistics summarized participants' characteristics and scale scores. Pearson correlation examined relationships between the scales. Simple linear regression examined the association between fathers' attitudes and both participation and influence, while multiple linear regression assessed the associations between sociodemographic factors and fathers' influence on breastfeeding. Significance was set at p < 0.05. RESULTS: Fathers' breastfeeding attitudes were predominantly negative, and participation was generally low, whereas influence scores indicated a relatively higher level of influence on breastfeeding. Attitudes were moderately positively correlated with participation (r = 0.539) and weakly with influence (r = 0.177). Regression analysis showed that attitudes were significantly associated with both participation (β = 0.539, p < 0.001) and influence (β = 0.177, p = 0.004), with a stronger association for participation. Higher education was associated with greater influence, whereas participation in breastfeeding education was unexpectedly linked to lower influence scores. Fathers' attitudes were associated with their participation in breastfeeding, while training attendance showed a lower than expected association with influence scores. CONCLUSION: Fathers' attitudes toward breastfeeding were significantly associated with both breastfeeding participation and influence on breastfeeding. Overall, fathers' participation was low, while influence on breastfeeding was relatively higher. CLINICAL TRIAL NUMBER: Not applicable.