Geoinformatics & Policy Analytics Laboratory, School of Information, University of Texas at Austin, Austin, TX, United States of America.
Childbirth International, Singapore, Singapore.
PLoS One. 2020 Nov 24;15(11):e0242457. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0242457. eCollection 2020.
The availability of breastfeeding support resources, including those provided by Baby-Friendly Hospitals, International Board Certified Lactation Consultants, breastfeeding counselors and educators, and volunteer-based mother-to-mother support organizations, such as La Leche League, are critically important for influencing breastfeeding initiation and continuation for the mother-child dyad. In addition, the emergence of community support options via information and communication technologies such as Skype and Facetime, social media (e.g., Facebook), and telelactation providers are providing mothers with a new range of support options that can help bridge geographic barriers to traditional community support. However, telelactation services that use information and communication technologies to connect breastfeeding mothers to remotely located breastfeeding experts require reliable, affordable, high-quality broadband connections to facilitate interaction between mothers and their support resources. The purpose of this paper is to explore the complex spatial landscape of virtual and face-to-face breastfeeding support options for mothers in the state of Ohio (U.S.), identifying barriers to support. Using a range of spatial and network analytics, the results suggest that a divide is emerging. While urban areas in Ohio benefit from both a density of face-to-face breastfeeding support resources and robust broadband options for engaging in telelactation, many rural areas of the state are lacking access to both. Policy implications and several potential strategies for mitigating these inequities are discussed.
母乳喂养支持资源的可及性，包括婴儿友好医院、国际认证哺乳顾问、哺乳顾问和教育者提供的资源，以及基于志愿者的母亲对母亲支持组织，如国际母乳会，对于影响母婴对子的母乳喂养开始和持续至关重要。此外，通过 Skype 和 Facetime 等信息和通信技术、社交媒体（如 Facebook）以及远程哺乳提供者等社区支持选择的出现，为母亲提供了一系列新的支持选择，可以帮助弥合传统社区支持的地理障碍。然而，使用信息和通信技术将母乳喂养母亲与远程位置的母乳喂养专家联系起来的远程哺乳服务需要可靠、经济实惠、高质量的宽带连接，以促进母亲与其支持资源之间的互动。本文旨在探索美国俄亥俄州母亲虚拟和面对面母乳喂养支持选择的复杂空间格局，确定支持的障碍。使用一系列空间和网络分析，结果表明出现了一种分化。虽然俄亥俄州的城市地区既受益于面对面母乳喂养支持资源的密度，也受益于参与远程哺乳的强大宽带选择，但该州的许多农村地区都缺乏这两种资源。讨论了政策影响和几种减轻这些不平等的潜在策略。
