Rios Jasmine, Frieson Tomeka, Ray Natasha, Edwards Doug, Pérez-Escamilla Rafael, O'Connor Duffany Kathleen
Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.
Community Alliance for Research and Engagement (CARE), Southern Connecticut State University and Yale School of Public Health, New Haven, Connecticut, USA.
Matern Child Nutr. 2025 Apr;21(2):e13776. doi: 10.1111/mcn.13776. Epub 2024 Dec 10.
Despite the persistence of breastfeeding racial and ethnic disparities in the United States, little is known about Black fathers' perceptions of breastfeeding and breastfeeding support services (e.g., maternity hospital-based care and lactation management care). This qualitative, community-based participatory research study reports Black fathers' perceptions of barriers and facilitators to breastfeeding, including the provision of breastfeeding support services in Connecticut. A focus group guide was co-developed with community partners and adapted from the Barrier Analysis Tool to identify breastfeeding facilitators, barriers, and service improvement areas. Four focus groups were conducted with 30 Black fathers who were Connecticut residents with a child under 3 years old. Qualitative data were analyzed using rapid template analysis involving deductive and inductive coding. We identified factors influencing breastfeeding and fathers' ability to support breastfeeding across all levels of the Socio-Ecological Model. Facilitators included high paternal breastfeeding knowledge, paternal breastfeeding involvement, parents' shared decision-making, extensive maternity hospital discharge support, ongoing breastfeeding support into the postnatal period, availability of community breastfeeding resources, and designated spaces for public breastfeeding. Barriers included low paternal breastfeeding knowledge, familial discouragement, insufficient prenatal breastfeeding education, exclusion of the father from breastfeeding support services, and stigma against breastfeeding in public. Understanding breastfeeding perceptions among members of a mother's support network, including their partners, is key for developing effective person- and family-centered breastfeeding education and counseling services that are well coordinated from the prenatal to postnatal periods with strong direct engagement from fathers.
尽管美国母乳喂养方面的种族和民族差异依然存在，但对于黑人父亲对母乳喂养及母乳喂养支持服务（如产科医院护理和泌乳管理护理）的看法却知之甚少。这项基于社区的定性参与式研究报告了黑人父亲对母乳喂养的障碍和促进因素的看法，包括康涅狄格州母乳喂养支持服务的提供情况。与社区合作伙伴共同制定了一份焦点小组指南，并根据障碍分析工具进行了调整，以确定母乳喂养的促进因素、障碍和服务改进领域。对30名居住在康涅狄格州且孩子未满3岁的黑人父亲进行了四个焦点小组访谈。使用涉及演绎和归纳编码的快速模板分析对定性数据进行了分析。我们确定了在社会生态模型的各个层面上影响母乳喂养以及父亲支持母乳喂养能力的因素。促进因素包括父亲对母乳喂养的高知识水平、父亲对母乳喂养的参与、父母的共同决策、产科医院广泛的出院支持、产后持续的母乳喂养支持、社区母乳喂养资源的可用性以及公共场合母乳喂养的指定空间。障碍包括父亲对母乳喂养的知识水平低、家庭的劝阻、产前母乳喂养教育不足、父亲被排除在母乳喂养支持服务之外以及公众对母乳喂养的污名化。了解母亲支持网络成员（包括其伴侣）对母乳喂养的看法，对于制定从产前到产后阶段有效协调且父亲积极直接参与的以个人和家庭为中心的母乳喂养教育和咨询服务至关重要。
