Abstract
BackgroundArkansas has the largest population of Marshallese Pacific Islanders residing in the continental United States. Marshallese are disproportionately burdened by poorer maternal and infant health outcomes. Exclusive breastfeeding can prevent or help mitigate maternal and infant health disparities. However, exclusive breastfeeding among United States Marshallese communities remains disproportionately low, and the reasons are not well documented. This paper describes the protocol of a mixed-methods concurrent triangulation longitudinal study designed to explore the beliefs and experiences that serve as barriers and/or facilitators to exclusive breastfeeding intention, initiation, and duration among Marshallese mothers in northwest Arkansas.MethodsThe mixed-methods design collects qualitative and quantitative data during simultaneous data collection events, at third trimester, six weeks postpartum, and six months postpartum. Quantitative and qualitative data will be analyzed separately and then synthesized during the interpretation phase. The research team will disseminate results to study participants, research stakeholders, the broader Marshallese community, and fellow researchers.DiscussionFindings and results will be presented in subsequent manuscripts upon completion of the study. This study will be an important first step to better understand beliefs and experiences to exclusive breastfeeding intention, initiation, and duration in this community and will inform tools and interventions to help improve health outcomes. The study will also aid in filling the gap in research and providing essential information on the infant feeding beliefs and barriers among a Marshallese community in Arkansas.
Highlights
Arkansas has the largest population of Marshallese Pacific Islanders residing in the continental United States
Study aims The aims of this study are to explore the beliefs, perceptions, and experiences that serve as barriers and/or facilitators to exclusive breastfeeding intention, initiation, and duration among Marshallese mothers in northwest
A community-based participatory research (CBPR) approach allows community knowledge to inform all aspects of the research to be more culturally-acceptable and has demonstrated effectiveness in building alliances to improve health when disparities result from systematic disadvantage, racism, and historical trauma [34,35,36,37,38,39,40,41]
Summary
Arkansas has the largest population of Marshallese Pacific Islanders residing in the continental United States. Marshallese are disproportionately burdened by poorer maternal and infant health outcomes. Exclusive breastfeeding can prevent or help mitigate maternal and infant health disparities. Exclusive breastfeeding among United States Marshallese communities remains disproportionately low, and the reasons are not well documented. Marshallese are a Pacific Islander population experiencing significant health disparities both in the United States (US) and globally. Little is known about childhood obesity among Pacific Islander children. The available data shows Pacific Islander children from 12 to 17 have obesity prevalence ranging from 15 to 36% [19, 20]
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