Wellness at Every Age: Incorporating Breastfeeding Support Organizations into Obesity Prevention Programs and Healthier Communities

• In Event: 322 - Section on Medical Sociology Roundtable Session
  In Refereed Roundtable: Table 11. Maternal Health

Abstract

Obesity continues to be a growing health concern, and initiatives to create healthier neighborhoods and communities have emerged across the United States as a response. Public health organizations have begun to promote health care models that extend beyond traditional settings such as doctors’ offices and hospitals and into the communities and neighborhoods where people live. This study utilizes public health models focused on the community level to analyze the strengths and limitations that organizations face when developing strategies to improve breastfeeding support across the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. This project occurred in collaboration with Mass in Motion, a program that aims to improve local infrastructures, education, and support services, to create healthier communities, and to reduce health disparities across socioeconomic backgrounds. Although stakeholders are not always initially aware of breastfeeding as an anti-obesity strategy, once organizations establish the connections, the potential for collaboration and coordinated effort is substantial.

Authors

• Jill Eshelman, Northeastern University

• Roger Edwards, Northeastern University

• Rachel Colchamiro, Massachusetts Department of Public Health

• Ellen Tolan, Massachusetts Department of Public Health

• Julie Forgit, Massachusetts Department of Public Health

• Christina Nordstrom, Massachusetts Department of Public Health

• Krissy Mainello, Northeastern University