Date of Award
2018
Document Type
Thesis
Degree Name
Master of Science in Nursing (MSN)
Committee Chair
Yvonne Smith
Abstract
Breastfeeding is a global health initiative, as defined by the World Health Organization (WHO), because of its numerous health benefits to mothers and infants. Despite breast milk’s documented benefits to mothers and babies, many women are not choosing to breastfeed their infants. A lack of paid maternity leave policy within the United States influences postpartum responsibilities, physically, and psychologically. This paper presents nurses’ responses to the Workplace Breastfeeding Support Scale survey regarding their workplace environment support of breastfeeding. Nurses providing direct patient care for more than 50% of their shifts revealed 45.5% disagreed in some variance with their comfort in taking breaks to pump breast milk, 50% could not find a quiet place besides a bathroom to pump, 59.1% of facilities did not have a breast pump available for use, 18.2% did not have a source of refrigeration for breast milk, and 77.3% of facilities did not have an on-site daycare. Thus, nurses who were breastfeeding upon returning to work were not supported by their workplace environment.
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-No Derivative Works 4.0 License.
Citation Information
Hull, Ashley Dawn, "The Impact a Nurse's Work Environment has on Breastfeeding" (2018). Nursing Theses and Capstone Projects. 368.
https://digitalcommons.gardner-webb.edu/nursing_etd/368