Contextualizing the Health Promotion of Breastfeeding: An integrative Review of Parent and Provider experiences in Canada

Abstract

Improving the rates of breastfeeding has been a prime interest of Public Health Nurses focusing on health promotional strategies as outlined by the World Health Organization. However, evidence of the perceptions held by perinatal families regarding the encouragement to breastfeed is lacking. With the goal of uncovering existing research, an integrative review was conducted, retrieving nine studies. Themes included: variables of delivery (beliefs and ambiguity), outcomes of receivers (expectations, emotions, empowerment verses pressure), and contextual factors (social, cultural, and political forces). Notable differences between the experiences of women in differing social locations were found. The results demonstrate a need for professionals and policymakers to consider the nuanced ways in which individuals experience breastfeeding health promotional messaging. Unintended impacts of this strategy potentially widen breastfeeding inequities between the groups most and least advantaged in society. The diversity of Canadians was found to be vastly underrepresented in the literature.