> I have been asked by my boss to gather continuous data about how many
> of our moms are breastfeeding at 6 weeks. ......  Has anyone used
> volunteers to do this data gathering?  My concern is what happens when a
> mom asks a question, and the volunteer cannot answer it.  Our volunteers
> are older ladies, retired, most of whom have not breastfed.

Mary Alice

You will need to decide whether you are gathering data about breastfeeding
rates or getting involved in helping the mothers in the course of doing
the follow-up calls (which is very hard not to). If all you want is
data, no advice given, the volunteers might do it better than you. But if
you make the calls and give the mothers help over the phone you will
influence the data as they will be likely breastfeed for longer.  Even
a study where you phone them, say fortnightly, may influence the rates
because they know you are interested in how they are going and perhaps try
a bit harder.  It is an artefact of the data collection.  Despite all
this, go for it! It is good that the hospital is supporting you to do
this.

Ros Escott BAppSc IBCLC
Tasmania, Australia
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