Correlation between Occupation, Stress Level and Breast Milk Production during Covid-19 Pandemic in Indonesia

Abstract

Introduction: Burdensand types of occupation will cause psychological stress during Covid-19 pandemic,
especially jobs in the medical field. The rapid transmission of the disease and the increasing number of
people infected by Covid-19 bring anxiety and worry and decrease the level of happiness that will obstruct
the secretion of oxytocin hormone that brings problems to breast milk production and breastfeeding process.
This study was aimed at analyzing the correlation between occupation, stress level and breast milk production
during Covid-19 pandemic in Indonesia.
Method: This correlational study was conducted by using cross sectional design.Thetechniqueused to collect
the samples totaling 110 breastfeeding mothers was simple random sampling technique. The independent
variables were occupation and stress level, whereas the dependent variable was breast milk production. This
study used Perceived Stress Scale (PSS) questionnaire to measure the stress level and another questionnaire
to measure the smoothness of breast milk production. Furthermore, data analysis was done by using Chisquare
statistic test with the significance level of p < 0.05.
Result: The result of this study showed that of 110 respondents, most of them (67%) worked in the medical
field; nearly all (70.9%) experienced severe stress; and nearly all (80%) had unsmooth production of breast
milk. Whilst, the result of Chi-square test showed that the value of p =0.000 showing that there was a
correlation between occupation, stress level and breast milk production during Covid-19 pandemic in
Indonesia.
Conclusion: Occupation, stress level and breast milk production are correlated during Covid-19 pandemic
in Indonesia. Therefore, the medical workers, especially nurses are expected to play their active roles to
educate and teach the breastfeeding mothers how to manage stress correctly to maintain the production of
breast milk in any conditions.