Managers' perspectives of lactation breaks: The context of infant feeding decisions among staff in one public sector organisation

BACKGROUND: There is a mismatch between health recommendations that babies are breastfed for up to 2 years or beyond, and UK employment law provisions, in which maternity leave is commonly up to one year with maternity employment protections normally ceasing after return to work.AIM: The study explored the perspectives and views of employers and managers concerning the context for lactation breaks, access to relevant policies, the legal position and views of managers around sustaining lactation on return to work.OBJECTIVE: To examine the context of lactation breaks in one public sector organisation from the perspectives of employer and manager.RESEARCH QUESTIONS:(1) What issues are triggered for managers by employees combining breastfeeding or lactation and employment?(2) How do managers understand and access the law concerning lactation breaks?(3) What views do managers express with regard to the different ways in which a mother may sustain lactation on her return to work? METHODOLOGY & METHODS: This qualitative study utilised snowballing sampling strategy to access and recruit participants. Interviews were conducted with twenty seven managers and key personnel of a large family-friendly organisation in 2013, selected for the deviant level of support for lactation breaks. Documentary analysis was also utilised. Interviews were audio recorded and transcribed verbatim. Inductive thematic analysis was applied using NVIVO to discern themes.RESULTS: There are some gaps in provision for lactation breaks and potential barriers for staff contemplating them. Participants described support and concerns, demonstrating conflicted attitudes. Themes include support for combining lactation and employment; concerns about lactation; following organisational policy; questioning social policy and reservations about communication. There is some degree of contradiction between these over-arching themes. There was limited call for law reform and the topic was perceived as primarily a human resources issue. All forms of lactation break were associated with ambiguous attitudes and reservations.IMPLICATIONS: Despite a high level of support for the concept of lactation breaks among managers there were concerns over potentially problematic issues. Breastfeeding at work triggers a workplace risk assessment rather than consideration of the potential risks of stopping breastfeeding early

Column expansion identities and quadratic spanning forest identities

Column expansion identities of determinants give a source of quadratic spanning forest polynomial identities and allow us determine the dimension of the space of certain quadratic spanning forest identities, settling a conjecture of one of us with Vlasev from 2012. Furthermore, we give a combinatorial interpretation of such spanning forest identities via an edge-swapping argument previously developed by one of us in 2019. Quadratic spanning forest polynomials identities are of particular interest because they are useful for quantum field theory calculations in four dimensions.Comment: 31 pages, added a very brief QFT motivatio

Digital Three-Dimensional Atlas of Quail Development Using High-Resolution MRI

We present an archetypal set of three-dimensional digital atlases of the quail embryo based on microscopic magnetic resonance imaging (µMRI). The atlases are composed of three modules: (1) images of fixed ex ovo quail, ranging in age from embryonic day 5 to 10 (e05 to e10); (2) a coarsely delineated anatomical atlas of the µMRI data; and (3) an organ system–based hierarchical graph linked to the anatomical delineations. The atlas is designed to be accessed using SHIVA, a free Java application. The atlas is extensible and can contain other types of information including anatomical, physiological, and functional descriptors. It can also be linked to online resources and references. This digital atlas provides a framework to place various data types, such as gene expression and cell migration data, within the normal three-dimensional anatomy of the developing quail embryo. This provides a method for the analysis and examination of the spatial relationships among the different types of information within the context of the entire embryo

“Take an Ounce of Suffolk Cheese”: Home Repair of Eighteenth Century Ceramics at Ferry Farm, George Washington’s Boyhood Home

The archaeological discovery at Ferry Farm of eighteenth century glue residues on tea and tablewares belonging to George Washington’s mother, Mary, raised a number of questions. Although recent research in the archaeological and decorative arts community on repaired ceramic and glasswares was helpful to some extent it primarily focused on professional repairs. At-home mending remained a mystery. Archaeologists at Ferry Farm responded by conducting extensive experimental archaeology on historic glues, replicating period glue recipes to determine the properties of these historic adhesives. Additionally, residue samples of suspected glue were analyzed by chemists from Eastern Michigan and Lourdes Universities utilizing Direct Analysis in Real Time (DART) Mass Spectrometry. The resulting data have shed light on what these sociotechnic artifacts say about a woman in Mary Washington’s social and economic position while highlighting an extremely common yet archaeologically ephemeral activity

Breastfeeding in South Gloucestershire: Mothers' early experiences of infant feeding

Executive SummaryIntroduction• This research about mothers’ early experiences of infant feeding was developed following discussions about South Gloucestershire’s public health priorities for breastfeeding; current services supporting breastfeeding; and relatively low breastfeeding continuation rates.Background and context• Breastfeeding is recognised as the optimal way to feed infants from birth and exclusive breastfeeding is recommended until about six months of age, with the introduction of complementary feeding when babies are developmentally ready, usually around six months. • The support, promotion and protection of breastfeeding is a national and local priority. In 2014/15, initiation of breastfeeding in South Gloucestershire, was 77.1% while continuation was 47.8%. The Joint Strategic Needs Assessment in 2016, highlighted the need to obtain the views of mothers on their experience of support for breastfeeding. Research question• The research question was: What are the experiences of mothers (with a focus on support) in South Gloucestershire in relation to infant feeding in the first 6-8 weeks? Methods• The research design adopted a purposive sampling strategy, based on criteria sampling, with mothers that had; experience of breastfeeding in the first 6-8 weeks of their baby’s life, a baby up to 6 months of age and were engaged with a Children’s Centre. We recruited mothers who met all three criteria. • Support for the research was obtained from Midwifery, Health Visiting and Children’s Centres managers. Baby and Me groups were visited to invite participation; 53 mothers expressed an interest and 24 mothers selected randomly were interviewed. An information sheet, consent form and interview schedule were developed.• NVivo was used to support data management and analysis in which themes were identified. Data protection requirements were adhered to throughout the research. The research had ethical approval from both South Gloucestershire Council and the University of the West of England. The findingsFindings from this project suggest that there are three ‘critical stages’ in supporting a mother to breastfeed and in her experience of breastfeeding; within these the main themes emerging from this research are discussed: • Support before birth: o Preparation antenatally for breastfeeding does not prepare women for the reality.o Many mothers would have liked information about expressing milk and bottle-feeding before they become mothers. • Support around the time of the birth:o In hospital, after the birth, some mothers receive conflicting messages and don’t always feel supported.o Birth experience can influence early experiences of breastfeeding.• Support once at home:o On return home, Health Visitors are generally perceived as supportive although contact can be minimal.o Breastfeeding support groups suit some women but are not available when needed.o Family, friends and other networks are a key source of support and advice for many motherso Many women seek support from other sources including online groups and apps although telephone helplines were not much used.Recommendations A number of recommendations are made; these are mainly directed towards South Gloucestershire Council but are also of relevance to the wider partnership of health and community and voluntary sector agencies. Recommendations concern the promotion and protection of breastfeeding; the mental and emotional health and wellbeing of women; consistent evidence-based personal and timely support; mothers awareness of differing professional roles; evaluation of breastfeeding groups and; consistent approach to signposting women to websites, apps and social media; and quality assurance of resources and workforce development

Building capacity in those who deliver palliative care services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples

The role of culture in palliative care for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples builds on over 60 000 years of history and includes meaningful practices to support a good “finishing up”. The Gwandalan National Palliative Care Project aims to build capacity in those who deliver palliative care to embed culturally responsive care in all end-of-life settings. Community consultation, value co-creation and user-centred design ensured that diverse Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander perspectives informed the Gwandalan curriculum. Emerging communities of practice serve as yarning circles where barriers to and enablers of service delivery can be shared and addressed collaboratively

Improving communication between postgraduate researchers and the university library: a case study at De Montfort University Library and Learning Services

A well-established postgraduate researcher development program has existed at De Montfort University for many years. Library and Learning Services include modules on literature searching skills and critical appraisal. However, we recognized that researchers seemed to be disengaged with the services on offer. This concern informed a research project that considered the ways we could communicate better with researchers based on their needs. This paper explores the essential components of successful communication, such as context, timeliness and communication channels. An action-research approach was taken including focus groups and online surveys. The outcomes highlighted three significant crisis points, emphasizing the key times when researchers might need some intervention. The findings of this research identified the distinct needs of Postgraduate Researchers (PGRs) and how relevant and timely communication from the library can meet these needs. It also considers the impact of how communication has improved with researchers as a result of some of our interventions