Northumbria University has received a grant of
£26,150 from the Sir Halley Stewart Trust to produce, pilot and evaluate an accessible digital training package for
professionals, practitioners and educators involved in promoting and supporting
breastfeeding.
Breastfeeding is a global
public health priority, with mounting evidence that it has immediate and
long-term physical and mental health benefits for both mother and baby. The UK
has some of the lowest rates of breastfeeding in Europe, with rates
particularly low among young mothers and in areas of high socio-economic
deprivation. Many who stop breastfeeding cite difficulties including ensuring
the baby can latch onto the breast, sore or painful nipples and insufficient
milk supply, with many indicating that they would have liked to have breastfed
for longer.
While the UNICEF Baby
Friendly Initiative introduced in 1992 was designed to up-skill the
breastfeeding workforce and increase the uptake of this training, the
accreditation of key services varies across the UK. Recently the Royal College of Nursing emphasised
the need for new approaches to CPD for healthcare staff.
This new training will
focus upon positioning and attachment using two memory aides, CHINS and LATCHES,
which were developed by Dr Lynette Shotton, Associate Professor in the
Department of Social Work, Education and Community Wellbeing. Its aim is to
complement existing approaches, including the UNICEF Baby Friendly Initiative
training, to help professionals, practitioners and educators remember, retain,
recall and apply breastfeeding theory within their practice, ensuring that
mothers feel well supported and can continue to breastfeed for as long as they
wish to do so.
Dr Lynette
Shotton (Principal Investigator) said: "We are delighted to receive funding
from the Sir Halley Stewart Trust to develop a training package that will provide theory as well as showcase how the
theory should be applied, using filmed examples of how babies should be
positioned for effective breastfeeding and how effective attachment can be
observed and assessed. The film will be shared widely via established networks
in higher education, the NHS, and UNICEF. There will be a UK focus, but the
digital nature of the film will allow for international sharing. A mixed
methods evaluation using surveys and interview data to monitor usage will be
conducted to determine the value and impact of the training."
Cheryl Elliot, Assistant Professor, Department of Nursing, Midwifery and
Health (Co-Investigator) said: "I am thrilled to be part of this important
project, which will see the established memory aide CHINS and a recently
developed memory aide, LATCHES developed into a brief training package for the
national and international breastfeeding workforce. The training will focus on
two of the most important areas of knowledge and skill for effective breastfeeding:
positioning and attachment."
Louise Bracken, Pro Vice-Chancellor for
Research and Knowledge Exchange added: "Northumbria is a
research-intensive university that takes on tomorrow’s challenges by making a
positive difference to people and communities, while maintaining its clear
focus on social mobility. The Sir Halley Stewart Trust grant, which has been
secured in collaboration with the Alumni & Philanthropy Department, supports
the University’s ambition to deliver cutting-edge research with world-leading
impact."
Northumbria University is dedicated to
reducing health and social inequalities, contributing to the regional and
national workforce and improving social, economic and health outcomes for the
most marginalised in society.
This grant supports Northumbria
University’s upcoming plans for its new flagship Centre for Health and
Social Equity (CHASE), due to open in 2028. Through
CHASE our researchers will deliver world-leading, interdisciplinary health and
social equity research and creating innovative, evidence-based policies and
data-driven solutions to bring impactful change across the region, the UK and
globally.
To find out more, contact Sue Vout,
Trust and Foundation Manager at sue.vout@northumbria.ac.uk.
