Iowa Infant Feeding Attitude Scale
 |
|
The Iowa Infant Feeding
Attitude Scale (IIFAS; de la Mora, Russell, Dungy, Losch, & Dusdieker,
1998) can be utilized to measure maternal attitudes toward infant feeding
methods (e.g., breast-feeding, formula-feeding). The scale was designed
to cover various dimensions of infant feeding. For example, questions
were written concerning the costs of infant feeding (e.g., “Formula
feeding is more expensive than breast-feeding”), nutrition (e.g., “Breast
milk is the ideal food for babies”), convenience (e.g.,
“Breast-feeding interferes with a couple’s sexual
relationship”), and infant bonding (e.g., “Breast-feeding
increases mother-infant bonding”). Respondents are asked to indicate
the extent to which they agree with each statement, on a five-point Likert
scale ranging from “strongly disagree” to “strongly
agree.” The scale consists of 17 items, with items worded so that
approximately half of the questions are favorable toward breast-feeding and
the remaining questions favorable toward formula-feeding. These scores
are then computed so that a high score reflects a preference for
breast-feeding. Studies conducted by de la
Mora et al. (1998) support the reliability and validity of the IIFAS in
assessing attitudes towards infant feeding methods. Women in these
studies either breast-fed (e.g. exclusively or partially) or formula-fed
their infants. The IIFAS appears to be very reliable, with
Cronbach’s alpha ranging from .85 to .86. The scale also appears
to provide a valid assessment of attitudes toward infant feeding
method. It was able to differentiate between women who planned to
breast-feed their infants versus women who planned to formula-feed their
infants. A copy of the IIFAS
along with our paper presenting psychometric data for the measure can be
obtained by sending an e-mail message to drussell@iastate.edu; be sure to include your mailing. We do
request that, if you use the measure in your research, you send us a summary
of your findings once you have completed your work. References: de la Mora, A., Russell, D.
W., Dungy, C. I., Losch, M., & Dusdieker, L. (1999). The Iowa
Infant Feeding Attitude Scale: Analysis of reliability and validity.
Journal of Applied Social Psychology 29(11), 2362-2380 |