AlSedra Hala, AlQurashi Alaa A
Patient Education Department, King Fahad Medical City, Riyadh, SAU.
Epidemiology and Public Health Department, King Fahad Medical City, Riyadh, SAU.
Cureus. 2022 May 31;14(5):e25510. doi: 10.7759/cureus.25510. eCollection 2022 May.
Breastfeeding has both short- and long-term benefits for infants, mothers, the environment, healthcare costs, and wider society. In Saudi Arabia, breastfeeding has undergone a considerable decline in recent decades due to population changes and developing socioeconomic status. Limited research studies have explored the relationship between work and breastfeeding in Saudi Arabia. Nevertheless, most research has mentioned employment as the factor having the largest effect on breastfeeding in Saudi Arabia.
The aim of this study is to explore the factors that influence breastfeeding among working mothers in a tertiary hospital.
Using a phenomenological qualitative design, nine working women were recruited through purposive sampling at King Fahad Medical City (KFMC), Saudi Arabia in 2019. A semi-structured interview of 30-50 min was conducted with each participant. Thematic analysis was used to analyze the data.
Most women talked about the difficulties of combining breastfeeding with work, which resulted in the early discontinuance of breastfeeding before six months. The findings show that the key factors that affect breastfeeding include maternal attributes such as knowledge about breastfeeding, prenatal decisions, and mothers' conflicting priorities, as well as the availability of social and workplace support. These influenced whether working women in healthcare settings in Saudi Arabia were able to continue breastfeeding while employed.
This study highlights the importance of issues and problems faced by working mothers throughout postpartum. Inventive solutions need to be developed to facilitate breastfeeding in the work environment. This will give working women the option to breastfeed for a longer period to improve the health of both themselves and their babies. The availability of a private place and support from employers to utilise the institutional policy will enable working women to continue breastfeeding after returning to work.
母乳喂养对婴儿、母亲、环境、医疗成本以及更广泛的社会都有短期和长期的益处。在沙特阿拉伯，由于人口变化和社会经济地位的发展，近几十年来母乳喂养率大幅下降。在沙特阿拉伯，仅有有限的研究探讨了工作与母乳喂养之间的关系。尽管如此，大多数研究都提到就业是对沙特阿拉伯母乳喂养影响最大的因素。
本研究旨在探讨影响三级医院职业母亲母乳喂养的因素。
采用现象学定性设计，2019年在沙特阿拉伯法赫德国王医疗城（KFMC）通过目的抽样招募了9名职业女性。对每位参与者进行了30 - 50分钟的半结构化访谈。采用主题分析法对数据进行分析。
大多数女性谈到了母乳喂养与工作兼顾的困难，这导致在六个月前就早早停止了母乳喂养。研究结果表明，影响母乳喂养的关键因素包括母亲的属性，如对母乳喂养的知识、产前决定以及母亲相互冲突的优先事项，还有社会和工作场所支持的可获得性。这些因素影响了沙特阿拉伯医疗环境中的职业女性在就业期间是否能够继续母乳喂养。
本研究强调了职业母亲在整个产后阶段所面临问题的重要性。需要制定创造性的解决方案，以促进在工作环境中的母乳喂养。这将使职业女性能够选择更长时间地进行母乳喂养，以改善自身和婴儿的健康。提供私人场所和雇主支持以利用机构政策，将使职业女性在重返工作岗位后能够继续母乳喂养。
