Department of Health Promotion, NUTRIM School of Nutrition and Translational Research in Metabolism, Maastricht University Medical Centre, P.O. Box 616, 6200 MD Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Faculty of Nursing and Health Sciences, Notre Dame University, P.O. Box 72, Zouk Mikael, Lebanon.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2021 Jun 8;18(12):6205. doi: 10.3390/ijerph18126205.
Breastfeeding has an important impact on maternal and child health, and is affected by several factors influencing its initiation and continuation. This qualitative study aimed to assess the main promoting and hindering factors for breastfeeding support in Lebanese daycare centers (DCCs), through the perspective of their directors and employees. The study was based on semi-structured interviews with 13 directors and 9 employees. It explored the influence of various cognitive factors as well as different environment types (physical, economic, political, and sociocultural) on their breastfeeding support. Findings suggested the directors and employees valued improving breastfeeding support in DCCs and the physical set-up of the DCCs allowed for this. However, various other factors restricted their abilities to support breastfeeding in the DCC, including limited knowledge and training on the topic, absence of written internal policies on breastfeeding, lack of enforcement in the application of national policies, and the current mothers' work policies that negatively influenced the decision to breastfeed. Improvements could be achieved through integrated interventions, targeting the interaction of internal DCCs factors and national and DCCs breastfeeding policies, as well as several social factors, to create a multilevel approach targeting breastfeeding continuation support in breastfeeding-friendly DCCs in Lebanon and the region.
母乳喂养对母婴健康有重要影响，受到多种因素的影响，这些因素影响着母乳喂养的开始和持续。本定性研究旨在通过黎巴嫩日托中心（DCC）主任和员工的视角，评估支持母乳喂养的主要促进和阻碍因素。该研究基于对 13 名主任和 9 名员工的半结构化访谈，探讨了各种认知因素以及不同环境类型（物理、经济、政治和社会文化）对其母乳喂养支持的影响。研究结果表明，主任和员工重视改善 DCC 中的母乳喂养支持，并且 DCC 的物理环境为此提供了可能。然而，其他各种因素限制了他们在 DCC 中支持母乳喂养的能力，包括在这一主题上的知识和培训有限、内部母乳喂养政策缺失、国家政策执行不力，以及当前影响母乳喂养决策的母亲工作政策。通过针对 DCC 内部因素和国家及 DCC 母乳喂养政策的相互作用，以及几个社会因素的综合干预，可以实现改进，从而在黎巴嫩和该地区创建一个多层面的方法，以支持在母乳喂养友好型 DCC 中持续母乳喂养。
