Jong, Dorien R. de (2023) Without a Happy Mother, a Family Cannot Thrive – Professionals’ Reasoning for Providing Breastfeeding Support: A Qualitative Study in the Netherlands. Master thesis.
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Abstract
Women who want to breastfeed their child are not always able to do so as they desire. In the Netherlands, women experience differences in the adequacy of breastfeeding support between professionals. Although previous studies have investigated facilitators and barriers for breastfeeding support based on professionals’ perspectives, an in-depth understanding of professionals’ motivations is unclear. The present study uses cultural schema theory to obtain a better understanding of how individual values and beliefs about breastfeeding support together with personal experiences with breastfeeding support motivate professionals’ reasoning for providing support to mothers. In-depth interviews were conducted with eight postnatal care workers in Groningen, a province in the Netherlands, in 2022. Findings show that participants’ reasoning for breastfeeding support is often aimed at protecting mother’s wellbeing. Their reasoning depends on three components: the professional providing support, the mother receiving support, and the broader context. Furthermore, participants sometimes feel conflicted between their personal preferences and what they feel is best for mother’s wellbeing. The findings suggest that professionals do not solely focus on the promotion of breastfeeding but that they primarily aim to protect or improve mother’s wellbeing when reasoning about support. However, these aspects are not included in present Dutch breastfeeding guidelines. Based on the findings, the Netherlands Organization for Applied Scientific Research (TNO) with representatives of the National Breastfeeding Council (LBR) – who jointly developed the Dutch national multidisciplinary breastfeeding guideline – are recommended to include contextual and psychosocial aspects of breastfeeding support when revising current guidelines.
| Item Type: | Thesis (Master) |
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| Degree programme: | Population Studies |
| Supervisor: | Haas, B. de |
| Date Deposited: | 01 Feb 2023 10:00 |
| Last Modified: | 01 Feb 2023 10:00 |
| URI: | https://frw.studenttheses.ub.rug.nl/id/eprint/4116 |
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