Abstract
The globalization of technology which gave rise to Information Communication
Technology (ICT) has changed the information seeking behaviour of human which has shifted
attention from broadcast and print media to Social Media(SM). Exclusive Breast Feeding (EBF)
practice over the years has been a global discussion and its significance has been passed across
to Nursing Mothers through several sources i.e. Open campaigns, Hospital Seminars, Television,
Radio etc. which has not yielded desirable results. Little or no attention has been paid to the role
of SM hence the need to examine the role of SM in enlightening Nursing Mothers on the practice
of Exclusive Breast Feeding in Ekiti State. The study adopted a Survey design with a study
population of 952 Nursing Mothers. Total enumeration technique was used for selecting sample
for the study through Questionnaire. Data collected were analyzed with statistics. Findings
revealed that Nursing Mothers in Ekiti State are enlightened about EBF through several SM
sources but Facebook and WhatsApp appear to be the most prevalent SM source of enlightenment
on EBF practice, a large percentage of Nursing Mothers were encouraged to breastfeed their
infants through the enlightenment obtained from SM and some of the challenges in the use of SM
is the fact that it consumes time, poor network signal, high cost of data subscription etc. The study
concluded that Facebook and WhatsApp are the most effective SM source on EBF. Therefore, the
study recommended that stakeholders should push their adverts and campaigns on Facebook and
WhatsApp more frequently.
Technology (ICT) has changed the information seeking behaviour of human which has shifted
attention from broadcast and print media to Social Media(SM). Exclusive Breast Feeding (EBF)
practice over the years has been a global discussion and its significance has been passed across
to Nursing Mothers through several sources i.e. Open campaigns, Hospital Seminars, Television,
Radio etc. which has not yielded desirable results. Little or no attention has been paid to the role
of SM hence the need to examine the role of SM in enlightening Nursing Mothers on the practice
of Exclusive Breast Feeding in Ekiti State. The study adopted a Survey design with a study
population of 952 Nursing Mothers. Total enumeration technique was used for selecting sample
for the study through Questionnaire. Data collected were analyzed with statistics. Findings
revealed that Nursing Mothers in Ekiti State are enlightened about EBF through several SM
sources but Facebook and WhatsApp appear to be the most prevalent SM source of enlightenment
on EBF practice, a large percentage of Nursing Mothers were encouraged to breastfeed their
infants through the enlightenment obtained from SM and some of the challenges in the use of SM
is the fact that it consumes time, poor network signal, high cost of data subscription etc. The study
concluded that Facebook and WhatsApp are the most effective SM source on EBF. Therefore, the
study recommended that stakeholders should push their adverts and campaigns on Facebook and
WhatsApp more frequently.
Original language | English |
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Pages (from-to) | 72-78 |
Number of pages | 7 |
Journal | Global Journal of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences |
Volume | 10 |
Issue number | 8 |
DOIs | |
Publication status | Published - 28 Aug 2022 |
Keywords
- social media
- enlightening
- exclusive breast feeding
- nursing mother