Identifying Workplace Lactation Room Design Gaps

Abstract

Exclusive breastfeeding among employed mothers in Malaysia remains low despite numerous health benefits to mothers and children. Inadequate provision of a lactation room at the workplace contributed to the low rate of exclusive breastfeeding among working mothers. The objective of this paper is to identify the design gaps in the lactation room at the workplace in Selangor. The results suggest that adopting the first step of the user-centred design (UCD) method enables the identification of design gaps in the lactation room: location, room size, allocation of table and chair, milk storage, sink, and additional storage facilities. Keywords: breastfeeding, working mothers, lactation room, user-centred design eISSN: 2398-4287 © 2022. The Authors. Published for AMER ABRA cE-Bs by e-International Publishing House, Ltd., UK. This is an open access article under the CC BYNC-ND license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/4.0/). Peer–review under responsibility of AMER (Association of Malaysian Environment-Behaviour Researchers), ABRA (Association of Behavioural Researchers on Asians/Africans/Arabians) and cE-Bs (Centre for Environment-Behaviour Studies), Faculty of Architecture, Planning & Surveying, Universiti Teknologi MARA, Malaysia. DOI: https://doi.org/10.21834/ebpj.v7i19.3126