Breastfeeding Awareness and Empowerment (BAE): A Black Women-Led Approach to Promoting a Multigenerational Culture of Health
(1) Background: Critical gaps in the U.S. healthcare system perpetuate adverse reproductive health outcomes for Black people. Grounded in reproductive justice and trauma-informed care, Breastfeeding Awareness and Empowerment (BAE) has developed a program titled BAE Cafe to directly address these gap...
| Main Authors: | , , , , , , , , |
|---|---|
| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
| Published: |
MDPI AG
2022-02-01
|
| Series: | Societies |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/12/1/28 |
| _version_ | 1797476713577316352 |
|---|---|
| author | Rebecca Duncan Jabina Coleman Sharon Herring Meg Kawan Christy Santoro Meghana Atre Aleigha Mason Shawana Moore Aparna Kumar |
| author_facet | Rebecca Duncan Jabina Coleman Sharon Herring Meg Kawan Christy Santoro Meghana Atre Aleigha Mason Shawana Moore Aparna Kumar |
| author_sort | Rebecca Duncan |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | (1) Background: Critical gaps in the U.S. healthcare system perpetuate adverse reproductive health outcomes for Black people. Grounded in reproductive justice and trauma-informed care, Breastfeeding Awareness and Empowerment (BAE) has developed a program titled BAE Cafe to directly address these gaps by providing community-based lactation and perinatal mental health support. A literature review identified key programmatic gaps, namely, access to knowledge relevant to troubleshooting breastfeeding, peer support, community support and healthcare system support, and system-level factors that impede families and communities from accessing lactation support. (2) Methods: This paper describes BAE Cafe through a group process observation and participant survey. (3) Results: The observation of groups highlighted the core elements of the BAE Cafe model: knowledge, support and mental health support in a peer driven format. Participant survey feedback was overwhelmingly positive and highlighted the critical importance of lactation support for Black women by Black women and BAE’s role in participants’ decisions to continue breastfeeding. (4) Conclusions: BAE Cafe is a replicable, scalable, peer-driven and low-barrier intervention that has the potential to improve outcomes for Black families. Additional research and investment are now needed to assess large-scale implementation to reduce disparities and address health inequity across different contexts and settings. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-09T21:04:37Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-d584023835d2420898271126896e2d0b |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2075-4698 |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-09T21:04:37Z |
| publishDate | 2022-02-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Societies |
| spelling | doaj.art-d584023835d2420898271126896e2d0b2023-11-23T22:04:40ZengMDPI AGSocieties2075-46982022-02-011212810.3390/soc12010028Breastfeeding Awareness and Empowerment (BAE): A Black Women-Led Approach to Promoting a Multigenerational Culture of HealthRebecca Duncan0Jabina Coleman1Sharon Herring2Meg Kawan3Christy Santoro4Meghana Atre5Aleigha Mason6Shawana Moore7Aparna Kumar8Breastfeeding Awareness and Empowerment (BAE), Philadelphia, PA 19132, USABreastfeeding Awareness and Empowerment (BAE), Philadelphia, PA 19132, USAObstetrics and Reproductive Sciences, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA 19140, USAChildren’s Hospital of Philadelphia (CHOP) Karabots Center, Philadelphia, PA 19139, USAObstetrics and Reproductive Sciences, Temple University, Philadelphia, PA 19140, USAMailman School of Public Health, Columbia University, New York, NY 10032, USASchool of Nursing, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, PA 19104, USACollege of Nursing, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA 19107, USACollege of Nursing, Thomas Jefferson University, Philadelphia, PA 19107, USA(1) Background: Critical gaps in the U.S. healthcare system perpetuate adverse reproductive health outcomes for Black people. Grounded in reproductive justice and trauma-informed care, Breastfeeding Awareness and Empowerment (BAE) has developed a program titled BAE Cafe to directly address these gaps by providing community-based lactation and perinatal mental health support. A literature review identified key programmatic gaps, namely, access to knowledge relevant to troubleshooting breastfeeding, peer support, community support and healthcare system support, and system-level factors that impede families and communities from accessing lactation support. (2) Methods: This paper describes BAE Cafe through a group process observation and participant survey. (3) Results: The observation of groups highlighted the core elements of the BAE Cafe model: knowledge, support and mental health support in a peer driven format. Participant survey feedback was overwhelmingly positive and highlighted the critical importance of lactation support for Black women by Black women and BAE’s role in participants’ decisions to continue breastfeeding. (4) Conclusions: BAE Cafe is a replicable, scalable, peer-driven and low-barrier intervention that has the potential to improve outcomes for Black families. Additional research and investment are now needed to assess large-scale implementation to reduce disparities and address health inequity across different contexts and settings.https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/12/1/28lactationbreastfeedingperinatal mental healthreproductive justicetrauma-informed carestrength-based |
| spellingShingle | Rebecca Duncan Jabina Coleman Sharon Herring Meg Kawan Christy Santoro Meghana Atre Aleigha Mason Shawana Moore Aparna Kumar Breastfeeding Awareness and Empowerment (BAE): A Black Women-Led Approach to Promoting a Multigenerational Culture of Health Societies lactation breastfeeding perinatal mental health reproductive justice trauma-informed care strength-based |
| title | Breastfeeding Awareness and Empowerment (BAE): A Black Women-Led Approach to Promoting a Multigenerational Culture of Health |
| title_full | Breastfeeding Awareness and Empowerment (BAE): A Black Women-Led Approach to Promoting a Multigenerational Culture of Health |
| title_fullStr | Breastfeeding Awareness and Empowerment (BAE): A Black Women-Led Approach to Promoting a Multigenerational Culture of Health |
| title_full_unstemmed | Breastfeeding Awareness and Empowerment (BAE): A Black Women-Led Approach to Promoting a Multigenerational Culture of Health |
| title_short | Breastfeeding Awareness and Empowerment (BAE): A Black Women-Led Approach to Promoting a Multigenerational Culture of Health |
| title_sort | breastfeeding awareness and empowerment bae a black women led approach to promoting a multigenerational culture of health |
| topic | lactation breastfeeding perinatal mental health reproductive justice trauma-informed care strength-based |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2075-4698/12/1/28 |
| work_keys_str_mv | AT rebeccaduncan breastfeedingawarenessandempowermentbaeablackwomenledapproachtopromotingamultigenerationalcultureofhealth AT jabinacoleman breastfeedingawarenessandempowermentbaeablackwomenledapproachtopromotingamultigenerationalcultureofhealth AT sharonherring breastfeedingawarenessandempowermentbaeablackwomenledapproachtopromotingamultigenerationalcultureofhealth AT megkawan breastfeedingawarenessandempowermentbaeablackwomenledapproachtopromotingamultigenerationalcultureofhealth AT christysantoro breastfeedingawarenessandempowermentbaeablackwomenledapproachtopromotingamultigenerationalcultureofhealth AT meghanaatre breastfeedingawarenessandempowermentbaeablackwomenledapproachtopromotingamultigenerationalcultureofhealth AT aleighamason breastfeedingawarenessandempowermentbaeablackwomenledapproachtopromotingamultigenerationalcultureofhealth AT shawanamoore breastfeedingawarenessandempowermentbaeablackwomenledapproachtopromotingamultigenerationalcultureofhealth AT aparnakumar breastfeedingawarenessandempowermentbaeablackwomenledapproachtopromotingamultigenerationalcultureofhealth |