Department of Psychology, University of Groningen, Groningen, The Netherlands.
NoorderRuimte, Research Centre for Built Environment, Hanze University of Applied Sciences, Groningen, The Netherlands.
Int Breastfeed J. 2022 Aug 9;17(1):57. doi: 10.1186/s13006-022-00499-0.
The challenging combination of breastfeeding and work is one of the main reasons for early breastfeeding cessation. Although the availability of a lactation room (defined as a private space designated for milk expression or breastfeeding) is important in enabling the combination of breastfeeding and work, little is known about the effects of lactation room quality on mothers' feelings and thoughts related to breastfeeding and work. We hypothesized that a high-quality lactation room (designed using the Theory of Supportive Design) would cause mothers to experience less stress, have more positive thoughts about milk expression at work, perceive more organizational support, and report more subjective well-being, than a low-quality lactation room.
In an online randomized controlled trial (Study 1), Dutch mothers (N = 267) were shown either a high-quality or a low-quality lactation room (using pictures and descriptions for the manipulation) and were then asked about their feelings and thoughts. In a subsequent field experiment (Study 2) we modified the lactations rooms in a large organization in Groningen, the Netherlands, to manipulate lactation room quality, and asked mothers (N = 61) who used either a high-quality or low-quality lactation room to fill out surveys to assess the dependent variables.
The online study showed that mothers exposed to the high-quality lactation room anticipated less stress, more positive cognitions about milk expression at work, more perceived organizational support, and more subjective well-being than mothers exposed to the low-quality lactation room (p < 0.05). Moreover, the effect of lactation room quality on perceived organizational support was especially pronounced for mothers who were higher in environmental sensitivity. The field experiment showed that use of the high-quality room led to less reported stress than use of the low-quality room (p < 0.05). We also found that mothers who were higher in environmental sensitivity perceived more control over milk expression at work and experienced more subjective well-being in the high-quality condition than in the low-quality condition (p < 0.05).
The current studies show that not only the availability, but also the quality of lactation rooms is important in facilitating the combination of breastfeeding and work.
母乳喂养和工作的挑战性结合是早期母乳喂养中断的主要原因之一。虽然哺乳室（定义为专门用于挤奶或母乳喂养的私人空间）的可用性对于实现母乳喂养和工作的结合很重要，但对于哺乳室质量对母亲与母乳喂养和工作相关的感受和想法的影响知之甚少。我们假设，高质量的哺乳室（使用支持性设计理论设计）会使母亲感到压力较小，对工作时挤奶有更积极的想法，感知到更多的组织支持，并报告更高的主观幸福感，而不是低质量的哺乳室。
在一项在线随机对照试验（研究 1）中，荷兰母亲（N=267）观看了高质量或低质量的哺乳室（使用图片和描述进行操作），然后被问及她们的感受和想法。在随后的现场实验（研究 2）中，我们修改了荷兰格罗宁根的一个大型组织的哺乳室，以操作哺乳室的质量，并要求使用高质量或低质量哺乳室的母亲（N=61）填写调查问卷，以评估因变量。
在线研究表明，与暴露于低质量哺乳室的母亲相比，暴露于高质量哺乳室的母亲预计压力较小，对工作时挤奶的认知更积极，感知到的组织支持更多，主观幸福感更高（p<0.05）。此外，哺乳室质量对感知到的组织支持的影响对于环境敏感度较高的母亲来说尤为明显。现场实验表明，与使用低质量房间相比，使用高质量房间可降低报告的压力（p<0.05）。我们还发现，环境敏感度较高的母亲在高质量条件下对工作时的挤奶有更多的控制感，并且体验到更高的主观幸福感，而在低质量条件下则没有（p<0.05）。
目前的研究表明，不仅哺乳室的可用性，而且其质量对于促进母乳喂养和工作的结合也很重要。
