Expected Outcomes and Benefits
Currently, the rate of breastfeeding among minority women is too low, which can lead to detrimental outcomes. Research indicates that African American women face more obstacles to breastfeeding than other population groups (Jones, Power, Queenan, & Schulkin, 2015). The core barrier among these is the lack of education on breastfeeding. Thus, the expected outcome is the improvement of breastfeeding exclusivity in the target population. The benefits of such a consequence are evident, the major one being the improvement of newborns’ health and immune system (Gertosio, Meazza, Pagani, & Bozzola, 2016).
Also, breast milk has the potential to safeguard babies against infectious illnesses and promote their cognitive development, as well as to scale down infant mortality and enhance their recovery during a disease (Gertosio et al., 2016).
Furthermore, the incidence of newborn falls and drops is likely to decrease once the program is successfully implemented (The Joint Commission, 2018). Chronic diseases, the rate of which can be reduced by breastfeeding, include hypertension, diabetes, hyperlipidemia, and heart disease (Binns, Lee, & Low, 2016). Therefore, the positive effects of the project on infants are numerous and crucial.
Apart from a range of advantages breastfeeding can bring about for newborns, there are also benefits for mothers. Most importantly, the women who breastfeed are less likely to develop breast or ovarian cancer (Schwarz & Nothnagle, 2015). Besides, breastfeeding mothers’ metabolic health is better than in those who do not breastfeed (Schwarz & Nothnagle, 2015). Finally, the risk of diabetes and heart disease among those who breastfeed is lower.
Aim Statement
The purpose of the suggested project is to change the attitude towards breastfeeding among African American women by means of enrolling them in an educational program. The insufficient rate of breastfeeding in this population group poses a threat both to newborns and their mothers. Hence, the aim of the change is to introduce a positive tendency among the participants and make it a stable trend in the long run.
Measures for Improvement Efforts
Outcome Measures
Outcome measures commonly help to identify how the suggested change will affect the values and well-being of patients. The program on breastfeeding education can be assessed by the rate of participants who change their unhealthy practice of non-breastfeeding into the healthy choice to breastfeed. Hence, the outcome measure will be the increase in women belonging to the target population group who decide to practice breastfeeding.
Process Measures
These benchmarks allow evaluating whether the planned phases of the process flow as expected. The current project’s process measure is the decrease in the most common complications caused by the refusal from breastfeeding. Thus, it will be necessary to measure the number of infants’ mothers addressing the healthcare institution within a certain period after the intervention in comparison to the same period of time before the intervention.
Balancing Measures
Finally, balancing measures help to identify whether the program does not cause difficulties in other processes. For the current project, it will be necessary to check whether the inclusion of nurses in the educational process has a negative effect on these professionals’ workload and burnout. Hence, the team leader will evaluate not only the progress of the participants’ understanding of breastfeeding practices’ benefits but also the effect of the whole intervention on nurses’ coping skills. The outcomes will be measured over a period of three months.
Prospective Changes
The major changes to be made are those associated with the barriers to breastfeeding in the target population group. The main obstacles include poor education, a positive HIV status or drug screen, socioeconomic situation, and working mothers (Heidari, Keshvari, & Kohan, 2016). Hence, the most important change to make is to educate women on the benefits of breastfeeding, as well as on the ways of coping with the difficulties they might be facing. The key stakeholders are African American women, their newborn children, nurses, and hospital administration.
References
Binns, C., Lee, M., & Low, W. Y. (2016). The long-term public health benefits of breastfeeding. Asia Pacific Journal of Public Health, 28(1), 7–14.
Gertosio, C., Meazza, C., Pagani, S., & Bozzola, M. (2016). Breastfeeding and its gamut of benefits. Minerva Pediatrica, 68(3), 201–212.
Heidari, Z., Keshvari, M., & Kohan, S. (2016). Breastfeeding promotion, challenges and barriers: A qualitative research. International Journal of Pediatrics, 4(5), 1687–1685.
The Joint Commission. (2018). Preventing newborn falls and drops. Web.
Jones, K. M., Power, M. L., Queenan, J. T., & Schulkin, J. (2015). Racial and ethnic disparities in breastfeeding. Breastfeeding Medicine, 10(4), 186–196. Web.
Schwarz, E. B., & Nothnagle, M. (2015). The maternal health benefits of breastfeeding. American Family Physician, 91(9), 603–604.