Deaf mothers and breastfeeding: do unique features of deaf culture and language support breastfeeding success?
| Autor: | Matthew R. Starr, Nancy P. Chin, Ann Dozier, Jessica Cuculick, Holly Widanka, Tiffany Panko |
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| Rok vydání: | 2013 |
| Předmět: |
Pediatrics
medicine.medical_specialty Community-Based Participatory Research Minority group American Sign Language Breastfeeding Community-based participatory research Mothers Health Promotion Sign language Article Developmental psychology Sign Language otorhinolaryngologic diseases Medicine Humans Cultural Competency Deaf culture business.industry Communication Infant Newborn Obstetrics and Gynecology Infant Focus Groups Focus group language.human_language Breast Feeding Persons With Hearing Impairments Child Preschool language business Breast feeding |
| Zdroj: | Journal of human lactation : official journal of International Lactation Consultant Association. 29(4) |
| ISSN: | 1552-5732 |
| Popis: | Background:Deaf mothers who use American Sign Language (ASL) consider themselves a linguistic minority group, with specific cultural practices. Rarely has this group been engaged in infant-feeding research.Objectives:To understand how Deaf mothers who use ASL learn about infant feeding and to identify their breastfeeding challenges.Methods:Using a community-based participatory research approach, we conducted 4 focus groups with Deaf mothers who had at least 1 child 0-5 years old. A script was developed using a social ecological model (SEM) to capture multiple levels of influence. All groups were conducted in ASL, filmed, and transcribed into English. Deaf and hearing researchers analyzed data by coding themes within each SEM level.Results:Fifteen mothers participated. All had initiated breastfeeding with their most recent child. Breastfeeding duration for 8 of the mothers was 3 weeks to 12 months. Seven of the mothers were still breastfeeding, the longest for 19 months. Those mothers who breastfed longer described a supportive social environment and the ability to surmount challenges. Participants described characteristics of Deaf culture such as direct communication, sharing information, use of technology, language access through interpreters and ASL-using providers, and strong self-advocacy skills. Finally, mothers used the sign for “struggle” to describe their breastfeeding experience. The sign implies a sustained effort over time that leads to success.Conclusion:In a setting with a large population of Deaf women and ASL-using providers, we identified several aspects of Deaf culture and language that support breastfeeding mothers across institutional, community, and interpersonal levels of the SEM. |
| Databáze: | OpenAIRE |
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