BackgroundThe challenge of combining professional work and breastfeeding is a key reason why women choose not to breastfeed or to stop breastfeeding early. We posited that having access to a high-quality lactation room at the workplace could influence working mothers’ satisfaction and perceptions related to expressing breast milk at work, which could have important longer term consequences for the duration of breastfeeding. Specifically, we aimed to (1) develop a checklist for assessing the quality of lactation rooms and (2) explore how lactation room quality affects lactating mothers’ satisfaction and perceptions. Drawing on social ecological insights, we hypothesized that the quality of lactation rooms (operationalized as any space used for expressing milk at work) would be positively related to mothers’ satisfaction with the room, perceived ease of, and perceived support for milk expression at work.MethodsWe conducted two studies. In Study 1 we developed a lactation room quality checklist (LRQC) and assessed its reliability twice, using samples of 33 lactation rooms (Study 1a) and 31 lactation rooms (Study 1b). Data were collected in the Northern part of the Netherlands (between December 2016 and April 2017). Study 2 comprised a cross-sectional survey of 511 lactating mothers, working in a variety of Dutch organizations. The mothers were recruited through the Facebook page of a popular Dutch breastfeeding website. They completed online questionnaires containing the LRQC and measures aimed at assessing their satisfaction and perceptions related to milk expression at work (in June and July 2017).ResultsThe LRQC was deemed reliable and easy to apply in practice. As predicted, we found that objectively assessed higher-quality lactation rooms were associated with increased levels of satisfaction with the lactation rooms, perceived ease of milk expression at work, and perceived support from supervisors and co-workers for expressing milk in the workplace.ConclusionsThe availability of a high-quality lactation room could influence mothers’ decisions regarding breast milk expression at work and the commencement and/or continuation of breastfeeding. Future studies should explore whether and how lactation room quality affects breastfeeding choices, and which aspects are most important to include in lactation rooms.
BackgroundThe challenge of combining professional work and breastfeeding is a key reason why women choose not to breastfeed or to stop breastfeeding early. We posited that having access to a high-quality lactation room at the workplace could influence working mothers’ satisfaction and perceptions related to expressing breast milk at work, which could have important longer term consequences for the duration of breastfeeding. Specifically, we aimed to (1) develop a checklist for assessing the quality of lactation rooms and (2) explore how lactation room quality affects lactating mothers’ satisfaction and perceptions. Drawing on social ecological insights, we hypothesized that the quality of lactation rooms (operationalized as any space used for expressing milk at work) would be positively related to mothers’ satisfaction with the room, perceived ease of, and perceived support for milk expression at work.MethodsWe conducted two studies. In Study 1 we developed a lactation room quality checklist (LRQC) and assessed its reliability twice, using samples of 33 lactation rooms (Study 1a) and 31 lactation rooms (Study 1b). Data were collected in the Northern part of the Netherlands (between December 2016 and April 2017). Study 2 comprised a cross-sectional survey of 511 lactating mothers, working in a variety of Dutch organizations. The mothers were recruited through the Facebook page of a popular Dutch breastfeeding website. They completed online questionnaires containing the LRQC and measures aimed at assessing their satisfaction and perceptions related to milk expression at work (in June and July 2017).ResultsThe LRQC was deemed reliable and easy to apply in practice. As predicted, we found that objectively assessed higher-quality lactation rooms were associated with increased levels of satisfaction with the lactation rooms, perceived ease of milk expression at work, and perceived support from supervisors and co-workers for expressing milk in the workplace.ConclusionsThe availability of a high-quality lactation room could influence mothers’ decisions regarding breast milk expression at work and the commencement and/or continuation of breastfeeding. Future studies should explore whether and how lactation room quality affects breastfeeding choices, and which aspects are most important to include in lactation rooms.
De enige oplossing is dat het bedrijfsleven de maatschappelijke verantwoordelijkheid op zich neemt en samen met het onderwijs de uitdaging aangaat om dit probleem op te lossen. Dat moet verder gaan dan af en toe eens een gastcollege verzorgen. Er is een substantiële bijdrage nodig in de ontwikkeling van lesmateriaal en het bieden van stages en projecten, zodat studenten kunnen leren in de praktijk van alledag. De bal ligt niet bij de overheid. De bal ligt niet in Europa. De bal ligt bij u. Ik daag u uit!
The natural environment is dependent on water to provide society with many essential benefits or “ecosystemservices” (e.g. drinking water, biodiversity, food production, recreation, carbon sequestration). A number of EUdirectives aim to protect and improve the delivery of these services. However, successful implementation andintegration of the different directives at a local level is a major shared challenge in the North Sea Region.Understanding how this can be achieved is fundamental to delivering long-term sustainable ecosystem-basedmanagement strategies for the North Sea Region and the focus for the WaterCoG project.The project will demonstrate through the adoption of new participatory, ecosystem service based approachesthat implementation and integration of different water management frameworks can be achieved at the sametime as providing additional social, economic and environmental benefits not currently being realised.A strong transnational component will identify and incorporate common, transferable elements of differentapproaches into an up-scaling toolbox that will extend the impact of the project and build capacity for deliveringimproved sustainable management strategies for North Sea Region ecosystems.The projects’ output aims for a change in working practice that will improve the integration between top-downimplementation of European and national directives and bottom-up, participatory developed solutions forimproving the quality and sustainable management strategies of North Sea Region ecosystems.
