title: Exploration of African-American women's infant feeding choices.
abstract: It is well documented in the literature that breastfeeding is more beneficial for infants and mothers than is formula feeding. Yet, African-American women are least likely to initiate and continue breastfeeding compared to other ethnic groups. Few studies have examined African-American women's infant feeding choices from the women's perspectives. Therefore, the purpose of this exploratory study was to examine African-American women's infant feeding choices with individual narrative interviews at 3 weeks postpartum. Five African-American women participated. After coding and analyzing the narrative interviews, three major themes with sub-themes emerged that identified influencing factors on participants' choices and their opinions about other women who chose formula. The women willingly shared their rationales for their infant feeding methods. In an effort to develop and implement culturally appropriate interventions and to increase breastfeeding rates in this population, further exploration of infant feeding choices from the women's perspectives is needed.
authors.affiliation: Marquette University College of Nursing, Milwaukee, WI 53201-1881, USA. karen.robinson@mu.edu
authors.forename: Karen
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Robinson
authors.forename: Leona
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: VandeVusse
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D001741:Black or African American / Q000193:education / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001294:Attitude to Health / Q000208:ethnology*; D001903:Bottle Feeding / Q000208:ethnology / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D001942:Breast Feeding / Q000208:ethnology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D002755:Choice Behavior; D004522:Educational Status; D005260:Female; D007722:Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice; D006301:Health Services Needs and Demand; D006801:Humans; D017533:Marital Status / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D009035:Mothers / Q000193:education / Q000523:psychology* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D033262:Narration; D015404:Nursing Methodology Research; D010865:Pilot Projects; D036301:Qualitative Research; D012944:Social Support; D012959:Socioeconomic Factors; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D014922:Wisconsin