Employer attitudes and their intent to support breastfeeding in the workplace

Abstract

New mothers struggle to combine breastfeeding and employment. Employers may not realize the benefits of breastfeeding for mothers, their infants, or the businesses themselves. A cross-sectional, descriptive design was used to investigate the characteristics of Central Texas small business employers, their attitude toward supporting breastfeeding in the workplace and explored factors that may mediate or moderate employers' support of breastfeeding in the workplace. Rogers’ Diffusion of Innovation theory guided the study. Data were collected using a Business Characteristics Survey and the Employer Intention to Support Breastfeeding Questionnaire (ESBQ). The final response rate was 148 complete surveys out of the 3817 sent, resulting in a 3.8% response rate. Descriptive statistics showed that 65.5% had some type of lactation support (n = 97) in place for their breastfeeding employees; however only 34.5% provided a designated, private room/place to pump breast milk. Logistic regression of the independent variables attitude (b = .034, p = .535), centralization (b = .045, p = .222), and interconnectedness (b = .002, p = .695) did not predict the presence of lactation support. Business size was not a significant predictor of the presence of lactation support (b = .001, p = .921). The moderator of intent was added to the model and interaction terms created by multiplying intent with each of the following variables: business size, attitude, centralization, and interconnectedness. These results did not support the presence of a moderating effect. Finally, mediator effects were only tested with the independent variable attitude. A significant direct association between attitude and the presences of lactation support was found (p = .045). Attitude appears to be a significant predictor of relative advantage (b = 4.583, p <.001). Relative advantage, while controlling for attitude, was not a significant predictor of presence of lactation support (b = .013, p = .220); however, the direct relationship of attitude to the presence of lactation support was less significant than before (b = .029, p = .655). Attitude appears to be a significant predictor of complexity (b = .407, p <.001). Complexity, while controlling for attitude, was not a significant predictor of presence of lactation support (b = .059, p = .285); however, the direct relationship of attitude to the presence of lactation support was less significant than before (b = .065, p = .181). Attitude appears to be a significant predictor of observability (b = .916, p = .003). Observability, while controlling for attitude, was not a significant predictor of presence of lactation support (b = -.003, p = .834); however, the direct relationship of attitude to the presence of lactation support was less significant than before (b = .091, p = .047). The implications and recommendations based on these findings can help to guide future studies and the planning and implementation of workplace lactation programs.