Breastfeeding Social Support Among African American Women in the United States: A Meta-Ethnography.
Adwoa Gyamfi, Diane L Spatz, Urmeka T Jefferson and 3 others
PMID 35939758WHAT IT FOUND
African American women described breastfeeding as depending on trustworthy information, support from family and health professionals early postpartum, tangible resources, and peer empowerment.
Key findings
01Women needed timely, accurate breastfeeding information from trusted sources, with topics including latch, pumping, benefits, complications, and myths.
02Early postpartum support from partners, grandmothers, health professionals, and peers was seen as key to starting and continuing breastfeeding.
03Women described tangible supports and Black peer groups as important, including lactation consultants, doulas, breast pumps, daycare, paid maternity leave, and social media groups.
STILL TO COME
How it was doneWhat they foundWhat it means for RNs
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What it does not show
Only 8 qualitative studies were synthesized, and the combined sample was 156 women, so the themes cannot be treated as generalizable. Participants were sampled conveniently, purposefully, or through snowball techniques, and many studies came from Southeast Michigan, Illinois, and the Southern United States. The included studies were not explicit about qualitative design or analysis, and only English-language published articles or dissertations were searched. The synthesis reports women's experiences and needs, not measured breastfeeding outcomes or tested interventions.
The easy way to misread this
Do not read these themes as proof that doulas, peer groups, or home visits increase breastfeeding rates. The paper synthesizes women's reported experiences and needs, not tested interventions with measured outcomes.