Physician personal breastfeeding experience and clinical care of the breastfeeding dyad.

Background: Prior research suggests that physicians' personal experience with breastfeeding may influence their attitudes toward breastfeeding. This phenomenon has not been explored in well-newborn care physician leaders, whose administrative responsibilities often include drafting and approval of hospital breastfeeding and formula supplementation policies.

Methods: We conducted a mixed-methods study, surveying physicians in the Better Outcomes through Research for Newborns (BORN) network.

Supplementation Practices and Donor Milk Use in US Well-Newborn Nurseries.

Background And Objectives: Guidelines encourage exclusive breastfeeding for healthy newborns but lack specificity regarding criteria for medically indicated supplementation, including type, timing, and best practices. We set out to describe practice patterns and provider perspectives regarding medically indicated supplementation of breastfeeding newborns across the United States.

Methods: From 2017 to 2018, we surveyed the Better Outcomes through Research for Newborns representative from each Better Outcomes through Research for Newborns hospital regarding practices related to medically indicated supplementation.

Pacifier Use and Breastfeeding: A Qualitative Study of Postpartum Mothers.

Due to the inconclusive evidence supporting the traditional recommendation to avoid early pacifier use among breastfeeding newborns, this study aims to understand what information mothers are receiving from hospital based care providers and their perspectives about pacifier use in the newborn period. Interviews with mothers of healthy, term newborns during the postpartum hospitalization were conducted in this qualitative study. Qualitative data analysis yielded several major themes that included the following: (1) pacifiers are beneficial for the maternal/infant experience, (2) concerns that pacifiers may interfere with breastfeeding, and (3) concerns about long-term use (including reliance and effect on teeth).

Exposure to Hospital Breastfeeding Support by Maternal Race and Ethnicity: A Pilot Study.

Introduction: The Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding are evidence-based practices used to improve breastfeeding outcomes, and most are to be implemented shortly after birth. Although breastfeeding is increasing in the United States, racial disparities persist. Available national samples used to examine trends in maternity care rely on maternal recall, which may be subject to error and bias.

Hospital breastfeeding support and exclusive breastfeeding by maternal prepregnancy body mass index.

Overweight and obese mothers in the United States have disproportionately lower rates of exclusive breastfeeding than mothers of normal weight. The Ten Steps to Successful Breastfeeding (Ten Steps), a series of evidence-based practices designed to support breastfeeding initiation, duration, and exclusivity, demonstrate effectiveness at the population level. It is unknown, however, whether they are consistently provided to women across all maternal body mass index (BMI) categories.

Exploring the Link between Maternity Leave and Postpartum Depression.

Objectives: Postpartum depression affects a substantial proportion of new mothers in the United States. Although most employed women return to paid work after birth, the association between duration of maternity leave and postpartum depression is unclear. We therefore aimed to explore this relationship among mothers in the United States.

Human Donor Milk or Formula: A Qualitative Study of Maternal Perspectives on Supplementation.

Background: Breastfeeding is fundamental to maternal and child health and is the most cost-effective intervention to reduce child mortality. Pasteurized human donor milk (HDM) is increasingly provided for term newborns requiring temporary supplementation. Few studies examine maternal perspectives on supplementation of term newborns.

Spending on social and public health services and its association with homicide in the USA: an ecological study.

Objective: To examine whether state-level spending on social and public health services is associated with lower rates of homicide in the USA.

Design: Ecological study.

Setting: USA.

Pacifiers and Exclusive Breastfeeding: Does Risk for Postpartum Depression Modify the Association?

Background: Postpartum depression is associated with lower rates of breastfeeding. Evidence describing the effect of pacifiers on breastfeeding is inconsistent, and previous research suggests that pacifiers may help vulnerable mothers breastfeed. Research aim: This study aimed to determine (a) how receiving a pacifier in the hospital affects exclusive breastfeeding (EBF) at 1 week and 3 months postpartum and (b) whether this association is modified by risk for postpartum depression (PPD).

Impact of social service and public health spending on teenage birth rates across the USA: an ecological study.

Objective: To examine whether greater state-level spending on social and public health services such as income, education and public safety is associated with lower rates of teenage births in USA.

Design: Ecological study.

Setting: USA.

Effect of breastfeeding on postpartum depressive symptoms among adolescent and young adult mothers.

Purpose: To describe the association between breastfeeding and postpartum depressive symptoms among a sample of adolescent and young adult mothers and to determine whether breastfeeding difficulty moderates this association.

Materials And Methods: Data were derived from a prospective cohort of pregnant adolescent and young adult females (ages 14-21) as they transitioned to parenthood. This analysis uses data collected during pregnancy and at 6 months postpartum among mothers (n = 137) who initiated breastfeeding.

Hospital practices to promote breastfeeding: The effect of maternal age.

Background: Breastfeeding rates are disproportionately low among young mothers in the United States. Although the use of hospital practices to promote breastfeeding is widely supported, the extent to which these practices help explain breastfeeding disparities by maternal age is unclear. Accordingly, we aimed to explore how maternal age may affect (1) receipt of hospital practices and (2) associations between these practices and exclusive breastfeeding.

Exploring Trajectories and Predictors of Depressive Symptoms Among Young Couples During Their Transition to Parenthood.

Objectives Young parents may be particularly vulnerable to poor mental health during the postpartum period. Little research exists, however, to adequately describe trajectories of depressive symptoms during their transition to parenthood, particularly among young fathers. Therefore, we aim to explore trajectories of depressive symptoms from pregnancy through 1 year postpartum among young expectant mothers and their partners.

Hepatitis C and HIV incidence and harm reduction program use in a conflict setting: an observational cohort of injecting drug users in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Background: Armed conflict may increase the risk of HIV and other pathogens among injecting drug users (IDUs); however, there are few prospective studies. This study aimed to measure incidence and potential predictors, including environmental events and needle and syringe distribution and collection program (NSP) use, of hepatitis C virus (HCV) and HIV among IDUs in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Methods: Consenting adult IDUs completed interviews quarterly in year 1 and semi-annually in year 2 and HCV and HIV antibody testing semi-annually through the cohort period (November 2007-December 2009).

Impact of conflict and displacement on risk behaviours amongst people who inject drugs in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Background: Theoretical work posits that drug-related risk behaviour increases during armed conflict; however, few studies have been conducted in conflict settings. The objective of this analysis is to determine whether conflict or local displacement impact risk behaviours among people who inject drugs (PWID) in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Methods: Consenting PWIDs aged ≥18 years completed interviews at 3, 6, 9, 12, 18, and 24 months of follow-up.

Violence against Congolese refugee women in Rwanda and mental health: a cross-sectional study using latent class analysis.

Objective: To examine patterns of conflict-related violence and intimate partner violence (IPV) and their associations with emotional distress among Congolese refugee women living in Rwanda.

Design: Cross-sectional study.

Setting: Two Congolese refugee camps in Rwanda.

HPV vaccine acceptance among adolescent males and their parents in two suburban pediatric practices.

Purpose: To measure HPV vaccine acceptance among unvaccinated adolescent males and parents and correlate acceptance with knowledge, awareness, and personal experience.

Methods: Adolescent males ages 11-21 years old and their parents completed questionnaires measuring attitudes and knowledge about HPV vaccination and personal experience. Acceptance was defined as wanting the vaccine and conditional acceptance as wanting the vaccine if it would protect against genital warts or cervical cancer.

Breastfeeding among adolescent mothers: a systematic review of interventions from high-income countries.

Despite growing evidence of the benefits of breastfeeding, rates of breastfeeding remain disproportionately low among adolescent mothers compared with older mothers in the United States. Current interventions primarily target adult women, and little evidence is available for breastfeeding promotion among young women. Accordingly, we aim to review interventions designed to improve breastfeeding rates among adolescents to make recommendations for future research and practice.

Correlates of complete childhood vaccination in East African countries.

Background: Despite the benefits of childhood vaccinations, vaccination rates in low-income countries (LICs) vary widely. Increasing coverage of vaccines to 90% in the poorest countries over the next 10 years has been estimated to prevent 426 million cases of illness and avert nearly 6.4 million childhood deaths worldwide.

The impact of future expectations on adolescent sexual risk behavior.

Rates of STIs, HIV, and pregnancy remain high among adolescents in the US, and recent approaches to reducing sexual risk have shown limited success. Future expectations, or the extent to which one expects an event to actually occur, may influence sexual risk behavior. This prospective study uses longitudinal data from the National Longitudinal Survey of Youth 1997 (n = 3,205 adolescents; 49.

Hospice for nursing home residents: does ownership type matter?

Background: Currently, more than half of all nursing home residents use hospice at some point. Studies have shown benefits to hospice enrollment for patients; however, the literature on ownership differences in hospice care in general has indicated that for-profit hospices offer a narrower scope of services and employ fewer professional staff. Although nursing home staffing patterns have been shown to be essential to quality of care, the literature has not explored differences in number of patients per staff member for hospice care within nursing homes.

Breastfeeding behavior among adolescents: initiation, duration, and exclusivity.

Purpose: Despite a substantial amount of evidence on breastfeeding among non-adolescent mothers, research and strategies uniquely designed to target adolescent mothers are critical because their rates of breastfeeding are disproportionately low and their transition to parenthood is often unlike that of older mothers. Literature to date, however, offers limited evidence for designing effective interventions. Therefore, we aimed to fill this gap in the literature by examining breastfeeding behaviors among a cohort of female adolescents as they transition to parenthood.

Breastfeeding intentions among pregnant adolescents and young adults and their partners.

Background: Rates of breastfeeding remain disproportionately low among young mothers in the United States. Although breastfeeding behavior may be most directly related to breastfeeding intention, little is known about breastfeeding intentions among young women who are expecting a baby.

Subjects And Methods: Pregnant adolescents and young adults (14-21 years old) and their male partners were recruited for participation.

Experiences and acceptance of intimate partner violence: associations with sexually transmitted infection symptoms and ability to negotiate sexual safety among young Liberian women.

Women who experience intimate partner violence (IPV) may be at elevated risk for poor sexual health outcomes, including sexually transmitted infections (STIs). This association, however, has not been consistently demonstrated in low-income or post-conflict countries. Furthermore, the role that attitudes towards IPV play in sexual-health outcomes and behaviour has rarely been examined.

Psychological distress in Ghana: associations with employment and lost productivity.

Objectives: Mental health disorders account for 13% of the global burden of disease, a burden that low-income countries are generally ill-equipped to handle. Research evaluating the association between mental health and employment in low-income countries, particularly in sub-Saharan Africa, is limited. We address this gap by examining the association between employment and psychological distress.