Ethnically Distinct Ways of Describing Breast Milk
Title: Ethnically Distinct Ways of Describing Breast Milk
- To recognize that women of distinct ethnicities prioritize values of breast milk differently.
- To identify the most popular values of breast milk to women of four different ethnicities.
- To understand that nurses should adapt their language based upon the mother's ethnicity in order to be most effective in encouraging her to breastfeed.
Design: Evidence-based quality improvement project.
Sample: Women over the age of 12 and of African American, Asian, Caucasian, or Hispanic ethnicity.
Methods: Through surveying, a total of 216 women were individually asked, “How would you complete the following sentence to describe the value of breast milk and breast feeding: ‘Breast milk is like…’” After responding, the women were also asked how they would describe their ethnicity (African American, Asian, Caucasian, or Hispanic) and the age group they fall within: Ages 12-21, Ages 22-45, and Ages 46+.
Implementation Strategies: Qualitative descriptive design; Surveying women in the maternity ward and outside of the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, on streets in West Philadelphia, and through an anonymous online survey.
Results: Qualitative descriptive data analysis identified seven themes for words or phrases that describe breastfeeding: “priceless gift,” “health,” “nutrition,” “protection,” “natural,” “bonding,” and “other.” The responses were separated by race and then by the response’s theme. Within each race, the percentage of responses in each theme varied. Among both the Asian and Hispanic respondents, the most popular theme was “Natural.” The most popular theme among Caucasian respondents was “Priceless Gift” and among African American respondents was “Nutrition.”
Conclusion/Implications for nursing practice: To effectively communicate the value of breast milk to new mothers, nurses should emphasize that breastfeeding is natural and that breast milk is nutritious. It is also effective to refer to breast milk as a priceless gift, such as “liquid gold.” The results of this study indicate that it would be ineffective to encourage new mothers to breastfeed by describing the low cost of breastfeeding or by explaining how breastfeeding can help a new mother lose weight.
Based on these results, it is apparent that women of different ethnicities use different language to describe the value of breast milk. However, no parallel pattern was identified among women of differing age groups. The implications of this study will be useful to health providers as they teach new mothers about breastfeeding.
Keywords: Breastfeeding, Language, Education