Lactation Supportive Campus Environment: An Analysis Of Student-Parent Breastfeeding Experiences On CSUSM

The public health importance and economic implications of breastfeeding cannot be overemphasized. Published studies have shown that as many as 20,000 maternal deaths from breast cancer and 823,000 deaths of infants 0-5 years of age can be prevented annually when breastfeeding is scaled up to the universal level of at least 6 months. In recent years, colleges throughout the United States have witnessed an upswing in enrollment of parenting students. However, the increase in enrollment of student-parents has not kept pace with their needs for provision of adequate resources that encourage the pumping of breastmilk on campus. The purpose of this pilot study was to assess the lactation resource needs of student-parents at the main campus of California State University San Marcos (CSUSM). Seven student-parents and four key stakeholders were recruited to participate in a series of structured qualitative interviews with a view to identifying similar themes and barriers that may potentially affect breastfeeding and/or pumping of breastmilk on campus. The audio-recordings of the interviews were transcribed, coded, and analyzed using inductive reasoning approach. In addition, theme frequency and coding themes were categorized into campus resources, academics, social influence, and health effects. The key findings from student-parents interviews identified the following barriers to breastfeeding: limited campus-wide breastfeeding policy and provision of lactation resources, lack of awareness of the locations of lactation rooms or the presence of breastfeeding accommodations, and school scheduling. The results of this study revealed that the lactation resource needs of student-parents have not been adequately addressed or promoted at CSUSM campus. Several barriers to breastfeeding were identified and discussed. It is important to note that lactation supportive environments often encourage more students to pump their breastmilk with a view to sustaining breastfeeding as well as successfully completing their education. There were a number of limitations of this study and they included a small sample size of 7 student-parents, inherent bias in data analysis based on using qualitative data, and lack of published data regarding the lactation needs of student-parents. Keywords: Student-parents, lactation support, qualitative interviews, breastfeeding, coding themes, inductive reasoning