Cunningham W E, Segree W
Department of Family and Community Medicine, University of California, San Francisco 94143.
Soc Sci Med. 1990;30(3):341-8. doi: 10.1016/0277-9536(90)90189-y.
Breast feeding promotion has been a national priority in Jamaica since the mid-1970s. Despite this effort, breast feeding rates have continued to decline there, especially in urban areas. Studies of the role of health professionals in promoting breast feeding have shown that specific practices encourage breast feeding, while others discourage it. In the context of declining breast feeding in a nation committed to promoting it, the goal of this study was to explore the relationship between specific health professional practices, mothers' breast feeding, and mothers' knowledge of breast feeding in rural and urban Jamaica. To accomplish this goal, a structured interview was administered to 113 mothers of infants age 0-6 months at one urban (n = 62) and one rural (n = 51) hospital, regarding (1) physician and nurse practices known to affect breast feeding, (2) mothers' own breast feeding practices, and (3) mothers knowledge of breast feeding issues. Physician and nurse visits were also directly observed to confirm responses given to the questionnaire and to assess the resources devoted to teaching mothers about breast feeding. While extensive lectures, posters and pamphlets promoting breast feeding were provided for mothers at the urban hospital, far fewer educational resources were available for mothers at the rural hospital. Overall, however, health professional practices discouraging breast feeding were observed more frequently at the urban hospital than at the rural hospital, whereas practices promoting breast feeding were more common at the rural hospital. At the rural hospital, mothers' breast feeding practices more closely approximated recommendations than at the urban hospital.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)
自20世纪70年代中期以来，促进母乳喂养一直是牙买加的一项国家优先事项。尽管做出了这些努力，该国的母乳喂养率仍在持续下降，尤其是在城市地区。关于卫生专业人员在促进母乳喂养方面作用的研究表明，某些做法鼓励母乳喂养，而其他一些做法则起到阻碍作用。在一个致力于推广母乳喂养的国家，母乳喂养率却不断下降的背景下，本研究的目的是探讨牙买加农村和城市地区卫生专业人员的特定做法、母亲的母乳喂养情况以及母亲对母乳喂养的了解之间的关系。为实现这一目标，对一家城市医院（n = 62）和一家农村医院（n = 51）的113名0至6个月婴儿的母亲进行了结构化访谈，内容涉及：（1）已知会影响母乳喂养的医生和护士的做法；（2）母亲自己的母乳喂养做法；（3）母亲对母乳喂养问题的了解。还直接观察了医生和护士的问诊情况，以确认问卷的回答，并评估用于向母亲传授母乳喂养知识的资源。虽然城市医院为母亲们提供了大量宣传母乳喂养的讲座、海报和宣传册，但农村医院为母亲们提供的教育资源要少得多。然而，总体而言，在城市医院观察到的阻碍母乳喂养的卫生专业人员做法比农村医院更频繁，而促进母乳喂养的做法在农村医院更为常见。在农村医院，母亲的母乳喂养做法比城市医院更接近建议。（摘要截选至250词）
