Rachel said:

> I find the most useful thing when working with someone who has ideas 

> foreign to the dominant culture wherever I am, is a good interpreter 

> so I can ask the specific mother about *her* beliefs, customs, and 

> find out what, if any, comments and questions she has for me. As a 

> corollary, I find the least useful thing is to meet her with an 

> assumption that whatever the last woman of the same nationality or 

> ethnicity did, is indicative of what this woman will do.

 

HEAR! HEAR!

 

I submitted an article to the US Lactation Consultant Association's journal, Clinical Lactation that was split into two articles:

-        Working with Families of Different Cultures I: Lessons Learned - Pages 13-15 

-        Working with Families of Different Cultures II: Improving our Communication Skills - Pages 16-20 

They are available for free on-line: http://www.clinicallactation.org/journal.php?vol=3 <http://www.clinicallactation.org/journal.php?vol=3&iss=1> &iss=1 

 

A version of my presentations are also available in English and Spanish from the ILCA Cerps on Demand website: http://www.ilca.org/i4a/pages/index.cfm?pageid=3655  (and no, I get no reimbursement for promoting this! <grin>).

 

I feel very strongly that IBCLCs must be required to learn and practice a way to communicate that does not depend on knowing a list of "what *they* believe."  In the US, it was thought that *all* Hispanics believed the same about supplementation - as a Puerto Rican,  I knew this was not the case, and that in harboring that belief, it gave the nursing staff and the IBCLCs the excuse not to help mothers understand how to overcome the barriers they were facing.  

 

I mention two different proofs related to this in my first article, but since then, DaMota K, Bañuelos J, Goldbronn J, Vera-Beccera LE, and Heinig MJ; Maternal Request for In-hospital Supplementation of Healthy Breastfed Infants among Low-income Women. 

J Hum Lact November 2012 28: 476-482,  added to the body of evidence:

Unexpectedly, we did not hear reasons for supplementation specifically related to cultural practices or beliefs from any of the groups of women. Instead, nearly all participants described a “trigger” event or circumstance that convinced them of the necessity for supplementation.

 

Is it really necessary to create additional studies for each and every culture and ethnicity?  I hope not! 

 

It does not matter what country, continent, cultural group or ethnicity – until we *ask* a mother and her family…we will not know how to help them and what barriers do *they* see in their way.  

 

I picked up trigger words when hearing about a study done for the California WIC Association by the Berkeley Media Studies Group (http://www.bmsg.org/pdfs/BMSG_Issue_18.pdf) in  2010.  The speaker described how, instead of “framing” breastfeeding … we have to look at her “landscape” while standing *next* to her…not facing her…  

 

…just some thoughts this Sunday afternoon…

 

Jeanette Panchula, BSW, RN, PHN, IBCLC

Vacaville, CA

 

 

 

 


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