Unknown

Dataset Information

0

Breastmilk pumping experiences of physician mothers: quantitative and qualitative findings from a nationwide survey study.


ABSTRACT:

Background

Nearly half of graduating medical students today are women, with many having children early in their careers, necessitating thoughtful consideration of practices and policies. The short duration of maternity leave for physician mothers often means that most who choose to breastfeed must return to work while still breastfeeding their infants.

Objective

To characterize the experience of physician mothers and identify facilitators and barriers related to breastmilk pumping upon return to work.

Design

Cross-sectional nationwide survey study administered to physician mothers electronically via REDCap™ to broadly characterize their personal experiences with family leave and return to work.

Participants

Physician mothers in the USA (n=724).

Approach/main measure

Demographic data and survey responses related to experiences during family leave and return to work, including free-text response options when participants indicated "other" experiences not captured by the survey response options and one open-ended question asking, "What do you think are the most important factors contributing to a positive maternity/family leave experience?" For this study, we searched free-text responses across the entire survey for keywords related to breastfeeding and pumping and thematically analyzed them to summarize key features of physician mothers' experiences.

Key results

Lack of time, flexibility, dedicated and hygienic locations for pumping breast milk, disrespect and lack of support from others, and concerns about financial consequences of productivity changes were the most common barriers to pumping breastmilk reported by physician mothers.

Conclusions

Flexibility in scheduling, adjusted productivity targets, and clean, private, and well-equipped pumping rooms would likely provide the greatest support to help physician mothers thrive in their careers while simultaneously allowing them to provide the nourishment needed for their developing infants.

SUBMITTER: Jain S 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC9550890 | biostudies-literature | 2022 Oct

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature

altmetric image

Publications

Breastmilk pumping experiences of physician mothers: quantitative and qualitative findings from a nationwide survey study.

Jain Snigdha S   Neaves Stephanie S   Royston Alexa A   Huang Isabel I   Juengst Shannon B SB  

Journal of general internal medicine 20220120 13


<h4>Background</h4>Nearly half of graduating medical students today are women, with many having children early in their careers, necessitating thoughtful consideration of practices and policies. The short duration of maternity leave for physician mothers often means that most who choose to breastfeed must return to work while still breastfeeding their infants.<h4>Objective</h4>To characterize the experience of physician mothers and identify facilitators and barriers related to breastmilk pumping  ...[more]

Similar Datasets

| S-EPMC3697301 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC2649062 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC7597571 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC10291382 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC10052477 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC9340136 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC10549845 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC9174307 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC5496264 | biostudies-literature
| S-EPMC7755710 | biostudies-literature