Theses and Dissertations
This collection includes both ASU Theses and Dissertations, submitted by graduate students, and the Barrett, Honors College theses submitted by undergraduate students.
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- All Subjects: Health Sciences
- Creators: Reifsnider, Elizabeth G.
Description
Scientific evidence strongly indicates that there are significant health benefits of breastfeeding. Lower breastfeeding initiation, duration, and exclusivity rates are found in vulnerable populations particularly among women of low socioeconomic status, and racial minorities such as immigrant, racial, and minority cultural groups. Breastfeeding disparities can contribute to negative health outcomes for the mothers, and their infants, and families.
Muslim Arab immigrants are a fast-growing, under-studied, and underserved minority population in the United States. Little is known about breastfeeding practices and challenges facing this vulnerable population. Immigrant Muslim Arab mothers encounter breastfeeding challenges related to religion, language, different cultural beliefs, levels of acculturation, difficulties understanding health care information, and navigating the health care system.
A cross-sectional descriptive study was used to describe infant feeding practices, and identify contributors and barriers to adequate breastfeeding using the social ecological model of health promotion. A convenience sample of 116 immigrant Muslim Arab women with at least one child, 5 years or younger was recruited from a large metropolitan area in the Southwestern United States. The results indicated that immigrant Muslim Arab mothers demonstrate high breastfeeding initiation rates (99.2%), and lengthy breastfeeding duration (M=11.86), but low rates of exclusive breastfeeding at 6 months (21.6%). Facilitators to breastfeeding within the sample were high intentions to breastfeed, positive breastfeeding knowledge and beliefs related to the benefits of breastfeeding, religious teachings promoting breastfeeding, and encouragement to breastfeed from the mothers’ social support system. Several barriers to successful breastfeeding were related to lacking the specific knowledge of the benefits of breastfeeding, and discomfort with breastfeeding in public, and in front of strangers. High income and religious teachings encouraging breastfeeding were significantly associated with exclusive breastfeeding at six months. Greater maternal age and comfort with breastfeeding in public were associated with longer breastfeeding durations.
The socio-cultural context for support of breastfeeding is an important consideration by healthcare providers caring for Muslim Arab women. An ecological perspective needs to be applied to interventions targeting breastfeeding promotion to facilitate effectiveness in this population. Culturally tailored intervention to the specific breastfeeding concerns and needs of Muslim immigrant women could promote optimal breastfeeding in this population.
Muslim Arab immigrants are a fast-growing, under-studied, and underserved minority population in the United States. Little is known about breastfeeding practices and challenges facing this vulnerable population. Immigrant Muslim Arab mothers encounter breastfeeding challenges related to religion, language, different cultural beliefs, levels of acculturation, difficulties understanding health care information, and navigating the health care system.
A cross-sectional descriptive study was used to describe infant feeding practices, and identify contributors and barriers to adequate breastfeeding using the social ecological model of health promotion. A convenience sample of 116 immigrant Muslim Arab women with at least one child, 5 years or younger was recruited from a large metropolitan area in the Southwestern United States. The results indicated that immigrant Muslim Arab mothers demonstrate high breastfeeding initiation rates (99.2%), and lengthy breastfeeding duration (M=11.86), but low rates of exclusive breastfeeding at 6 months (21.6%). Facilitators to breastfeeding within the sample were high intentions to breastfeed, positive breastfeeding knowledge and beliefs related to the benefits of breastfeeding, religious teachings promoting breastfeeding, and encouragement to breastfeed from the mothers’ social support system. Several barriers to successful breastfeeding were related to lacking the specific knowledge of the benefits of breastfeeding, and discomfort with breastfeeding in public, and in front of strangers. High income and religious teachings encouraging breastfeeding were significantly associated with exclusive breastfeeding at six months. Greater maternal age and comfort with breastfeeding in public were associated with longer breastfeeding durations.
The socio-cultural context for support of breastfeeding is an important consideration by healthcare providers caring for Muslim Arab women. An ecological perspective needs to be applied to interventions targeting breastfeeding promotion to facilitate effectiveness in this population. Culturally tailored intervention to the specific breastfeeding concerns and needs of Muslim immigrant women could promote optimal breastfeeding in this population.
ContributorsKhasawneh, Wafa (Author) / Komnenich, Pauline (Thesis advisor) / Petrov, Megan (Committee member) / Reifsnider, Elizabeth G. (Committee member) / Ahmed, Azza (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2017
Description
This research is an anthology of a series of papers intended to describe the health state, healthcare experiences, healthcare preventive practice, healthcare barriers, and cardiovascular disease (CVD) risk factors of Asian Americans (AA) residing in Arizona (AZ). Asian Americans are known to be vulnerable populations and there is paucity of data on interventions to reduce CVD risk factors. An extensive literature review showed no available disaggregated health data of AA in AZ. The Neuman Systems Model guided this study. Chapter 1 elucidates the importance of conducting the research. It provides an overview of the literature, theory, and methodology of the study. Chapters 2 and 3 describe the results of a cross-sectional descriptive secondary analysis using the 2013, 2015, and 2017 Behavior Risk Factor Surveillance System (BRFSS) datasets. The outcomes demonstrate the disaggregated epidemiological phenomenon of AA. There were variations in their social determinants of health, healthcare barriers, healthcare preventive practice, CVD risk factors, and healthcare experiences based on perceived racism. It highlighted modifiable and non-modifiable predictors of hypertension (HTN) and diabetes. Chapter 4 is an integrative review of interventions implemented to reduce CVD risks tailored for Filipino Americans. Chapter 5 summarizes the research findings. The results may provide the community of practicing nurses, researchers, and clinicians the evidence to plan, prioritize, and implement comprehensive, theoretically guided, and culturally tailored community-led primary and secondary prevention programs to improve their health outcomes. The data may serve as a tool for stakeholders and policy makers to advocate for public health policies that will elevate population health of AA or communities of color in AZ to be in line with non-Hispanic White counterparts.
ContributorsSingarajah, Erlinda (Author) / Reifsnider, Elizabeth G. (Thesis advisor) / Shin, Chanam (Thesis advisor) / Zheng, Yi (Committee member) / Komnenich, Pauline (Committee member) / Arizona State University (Publisher)
Created2020