Department of School of Management Studies, University of Cape Town, Cape Town, South Africa.
Health Systems Research Unit, South African Medical Research Council, Cape Town, South Africa.
Int Breastfeed J. 2020 Nov 23;15(1):100. doi: 10.1186/s13006-020-00342-4.
Return to employment is a major barrier to breastfeeding continuation, globally and in the Southern African context. The Lancet Breastfeeding Series revealed an explicit need for research exploring breastfeeding as a workplace issue in low- and middle-income countries. A dearth of research on workplace breastfeeding in South Africa calls for attention to this topic. This study sought to explore breastfeeding at work experiences from the perspective of employed mothers and senior managers in a provincial government setting in South Africa.
The study adopted an exploratory qualitative design with multi-perspective semi-structured interviews. Snowball sampling was employed to recruit twelve participants, senior managers (n = 4) and employed mothers (n = 8), from two provincial government departments in Cape Town, South Africa. Interviews were conducted between April and August 2018 to capture participants' experiences with breastfeeding in the workplace. Thematic analysis was used to analyse data.
Four key themes that described experiences of workplace breastfeeding emerged which further traversed three critical maternity periods: pregnancy, maternity leave, and return to work. The prevalent themes were: 1) Knowledge about the legislation and breastfeeding support benefits. Most participants only knew about the legislated four months maternity leave and time off for prenatal visits but lacked knowledge about comprehensive maternity benefits; 2) Perceptions and experiences of breastfeeding in the workplace. Breastfeeding was perceived to be a mother's responsibility and a private issue. As a result, most participants stopped breastfeeding prior to or immediately upon return to work after maternity leave; 3) Barriers to breastfeeding continuation, such as the absence of a conversation about infant feeding plans between managers and mothers; and 4) Recommendations to improve breastfeeding support at work from an individual, organisational and national level.
Our study contributions emphasise that breastfeeding support from managers should begin prior to the mother taking maternity leave, and that in addition to providing supportive facilities (such as private space and breastmilk storage), immediate supervisor support may be critical in fostering breastfeeding-friendly workplaces for mothers. Management implications for advancing workplace breastfeeding support in the public sector are presented.
在全球范围内以及在南部非洲背景下，重返工作岗位是母乳喂养持续的主要障碍。《柳叶刀母乳喂养系列》揭示了明确需要研究在中低收入国家将母乳喂养作为工作场所问题。南非缺乏关于工作场所母乳喂养的研究，这引起了对该主题的关注。本研究旨在从南非省级政府中受雇母亲和高级管理人员的角度探讨工作场所母乳喂养的经验。
本研究采用探索性定性设计，采用多视角半结构化访谈。采用滚雪球抽样方法从南非开普敦的两个省级政府部门招募了 12 名参与者，包括高级管理人员（n=4）和受雇母亲（n=8）。2018 年 4 月至 8 月期间进行了访谈，以了解参与者在工作场所母乳喂养的经验。采用主题分析方法对数据进行分析。
从怀孕、产假和重返工作这三个关键的生育期进一步探讨了描述工作场所母乳喂养经验的四个关键主题。主要主题有：1）关于立法和母乳喂养支持福利的知识。大多数参与者只知道法定的四个月产假和产前检查的休假时间，但缺乏全面的产妇福利知识；2）对工作场所母乳喂养的看法和经验。母乳喂养被认为是母亲的责任和私人问题。因此，大多数参与者在休完产假后立即停止了母乳喂养；3）母乳喂养持续存在的障碍，例如经理和母亲之间没有关于婴儿喂养计划的对话；4）从个人、组织和国家层面改善工作场所母乳喂养支持的建议。
我们的研究贡献强调，管理者应在母亲休产假之前开始提供母乳喂养支持，除了提供支持性设施（如私人空间和母乳储存）外，直接主管的支持可能对于培养母亲友好的工作场所至关重要。提出了在公共部门推进工作场所母乳喂养支持的管理意义。
