Doctorado en Ciencias de la Salud Pública, Centro Universitario de Ciencias de la Salud (CUCS), Universidad de Guadalajara (UdeG), Sierra Mojada 950, Colonia Independencia, Guadalajara, C.P. 44340, Jalisco, Mexico; Secretaría de Salud Jalisco, Dr. Baeza Alzaga 107, Guadalajara, C.P. 44100, Jalisco, Mexico.
Instituto de Biología Molecular en Medicina, CUCS, UdeG, Sierra Mojada 950, Colonia Independencia, Guadalajara, C.P. 44340, Jalisco, Mexico.
Nurse Educ Pract. 2024 Jul;78:103991. doi: 10.1016/j.nepr.2024.103991. Epub 2024 May 17.
This study aims to describe the social representations of breastfeeding among Mexican health science students.
Breastfeeding is a complex phenomenon involving biological, affective and sociocultural aspects. Its definition includes diverse beliefs, attitudes, traditions and myths. Being aware of the connections between biological and sociocultural concepts in the social representations of breastfeeding in health science students may facilitate our comprehension of their attitudes/behaviors towards breastfeeding.
A qualitative study was carried out based on the structuralist approach of the social representations theory.
Data were collected with free-listing questionnaires with breastfeeding as an inducer word among a random sample of nutrition, medical and nursing undergraduate students (n=124). The analyses used were similitude/meanings of words, prototypical and categorical analyses.
The findings suggest that the structure of the social representation is composed of breastfeeding essentials (baby, mother, & milk), affective (attachment, love & link), biological (nutrition, breasts, & health) and sociocultural elements (taboo, responsibility, & economic). Only instrumental elements are found in the nucleus, whereas biological, affective and sociocultural elements are observed in the peripheries. Moreover, emerging thematic categories such as the "affective bond" and "feeding" introduced additional dimensions, thereby emphasizing the complexity and richness of the social representation of breastfeeding in the context of health science students.
The structure of the social representation of breastfeeding among some Mexican undergraduate health science students focuses on the instrumental aspects, emphasizing essential elements. However, they downplay more scientifically oriented elements specific to their academic training. These findings, when extrapolated to different contexts, present an opportunity that could assist the development of tailored and culturally adapted educational strategies to strengthen breastfeeding training for health students. This approach can significantly contribute to enhancing breastfeeding promotion in society by addressing practical, scientific and language-inclusive aspects in the training of health professionals.
本研究旨在描述墨西哥卫生科学专业学生对母乳喂养的社会表征。
母乳喂养是一个涉及生物、情感和社会文化等多方面的复杂现象。它的定义包括各种信念、态度、传统和神话。了解卫生科学专业学生对母乳喂养的社会表征中生物和社会文化概念之间的联系，可能有助于我们理解他们对母乳喂养的态度/行为。
这是一项基于社会表征理论的结构主义方法的定性研究。
采用自由列表问卷法，以母乳喂养为诱导词，对营养、医学和护理专业的本科生（n=124）进行随机抽样调查。采用词的相似性/意义、原型和类别分析进行数据分析。
研究结果表明，社会表征的结构由母乳喂养的基本要素（婴儿、母亲和乳汁）、情感（依恋、爱和联系）、生物（营养、乳房和健康）和社会文化要素（禁忌、责任和经济）组成。只有工具性要素存在于核心部分，而生物、情感和社会文化要素则存在于外围部分。此外，还出现了一些主题类别，如“情感纽带”和“喂养”，引入了额外的维度，从而强调了卫生科学专业学生对母乳喂养的社会表征的复杂性和丰富性。
一些墨西哥卫生科学专业本科生对母乳喂养的社会表征结构侧重于工具性方面，强调基本要素。然而，他们忽略了与他们学术培训相关的更具科学性的特定元素。这些发现，在推广到不同的背景下，可以为制定针对特定文化的教育策略提供机会，以加强卫生专业学生的母乳喂养培训。这种方法可以通过解决培训中实际、科学和语言包容的方面，为增强社会对母乳喂养的促进做出重要贡献，从而提高卫生专业人员的培训效果。
