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NICHQ Study on Community Promotion of Safe Sleep and Breastfeeding Published by BMC Public Health

early childhoodquality improvement

BOSTON – A new study looking at community-based approaches to infant safe sleep and breastfeeding promotion was published in BMC Public Health on March 7, 2023.  

Community-based approaches to infant safe sleep and breastfeeding promotion: a qualitative study, led by the National Institute for Children’s Health Quality (NICHQ), details opportunities and challenges to improve community-level promotion of infant safe sleep (ISS) and breastfeeding in communities vulnerable to infant safe sleep and breastfeeding disparities.  

Through analysis of data collected for the National Action Partnership to Promote Safe Sleep Improvement and Innovation Network (NAPPSS-IIN), a multi-year project running from 2017- 2022, NICHQ researchers identified four themes to inform infant safe sleep and breastfeeding promotion: education and dissemination, relationship building and social support, working with clients’ personal circumstances and considerations, and tools and systems. 

“Our findings highlight the importance of building capacity around promising community-led approaches to promoting breastfeeding and safe sleep,” said Meera Menon, PhD, who was the lead author of this publication. “As we continue to support communities impacted by disparate outcomes, findings from this study will help inform our work to address persistent inequities in breastfeeding and safe sleep practices.” 

NICHQ authors include: 

  • Meera Menon, PhD, Associate Director of Research and Evaluation (Lead Author) 
  • Rebecca Huber, MPP, Senior Analyst 
  • Dana D. West, PhD, Associate Project Director of Equity 
  • Stacy Scott, PhD, MPA, VP, Health Equity Innovation (Executive Project Director) 
  • Rebecca B. Russell, MSPH, VP, Applied Research and Evaluation 
  • Scott D. Berns, MD, MPH, FAAP, President and CEO (Principal Investigator) 

Learn more about NICHQ’s project, National Action Partnership to Promote Safe Sleep Improvement and Innovation Network (NAPPSS-IIN).  

NICHQ thanks and acknowledges participating expert advisors and faculty, including Karla Coleman, MBA, who assisted in data collection. We appreciate our partner organizations and would like to acknowledge all the individuals participating in NAPPSS-IIN as well as the study informants. Thank you to current and former NICHQ staff who contributed to the project and this study, including Isabel Zuckoff, MPH, and Colleen Bernard. We also thank the Health Resources and Services Administration Maternal and Child Health Bureau for their vision and commitment to make infant safe sleep and breastfeeding a national norm. 

This project was supported by the Health Resources and Services Administration (HRSA) of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) under grant number HRSA-17-094, National Action Partnership to Promote Safe Sleep Program, $4,998,565. The information or content and conclusions are those of the authors and should not be construed as the official position or policy of, nor should any endorsements be inferred by HRSA, HHS or the U.S. Government. 

 

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