Course: HSCI 534. Lactation Education for the Healthcare Professional (3)
This course provides graduate students from various health disciplines with the opportunity to learn and apply approaches used by public health professionals to promote breastfeeding in the community. Emphasis will be given to analyzing current breastfeeding behavior using a social-ecological model of thinking. Topics covered will include: epidemiological trends in breastfeeding, health outcomes associated with breastfeeding, public health initiatives and policies that influence breastfeeding, social norms and cultural factors influencing breastfeeding, and key concepts women and their families need to know to successfully breastfeed. Students will have the opportunity to develop skills needed to effectively promote breastfeeding including: understanding the lactation educator’s scope of practice, counseling skills, application of theory to understand factors influencing breastfeeding behavior and selection of strategies to influence breastfeeding behavior.