Northumbria University has received a grant of £26,150 from the Sir Halley Stewart Trust to produce, pilot and evaluate an accessible digital training package for professionals, practitioners and educators involved in promoting and supporting breastfeeding.
Breastfeeding is a global public health priority, with mounting evidence that it has immediate and long-term physical and mental health benefits for both mother and baby. The UK has some of the lowest rates of breastfeeding in Europe, with rates particularly low among young mothers and in areas of high socio-economic deprivation. Many who stop breastfeeding cite difficulties including ensuring the baby can latch onto the breast, sore or painful nipples and insufficient milk supply, with many indicating that they would have liked to have breastfed for longer.
While the UNICEF Baby Friendly Initiative introduced in 1992 was designed to up-skill the breastfeeding workforce and increase the uptake of this training, the accreditation of key services varies across the UK. Recently the Royal College of Nursing emphasised the need for new approaches to CPD for healthcare staff.
This new training will focus upon positioning and attachment using two memory aides, CHINS and LATCHES, which were developed by Dr Lynette Shotton, Associate Professor in the Department of Social Work, Education and Community Wellbeing. Its aim is to complement existing approaches, including the UNICEF Baby Friendly Initiative training, to help professionals, practitioners and educators remember, retain, recall and apply breastfeeding theory within their practice, ensuring that mothers feel well supported and can continue to breastfeed for as long as they wish to do so.
Dr Lynette Shotton (Principal Investigator) said: "We are delighted to receive funding from the Sir Halley Stewart Trust to develop a training package that will provide theory as well as showcase how the theory should be applied, using filmed examples of how babies should be positioned for effective breastfeeding and how effective attachment can be observed and assessed. The film will be shared widely via established networks in higher education, the NHS, and UNICEF. There will be a UK focus, but the digital nature of the film will allow for international sharing. A mixed methods evaluation using surveys and interview data to monitor usage will be conducted to determine the value and impact of the training."
Cheryl Elliot, Assistant Professor, Department of Nursing, Midwifery and Health (Co-Investigator) said: "I am thrilled to be part of this important project, which will see the established memory aide CHINS and a recently developed memory aide, LATCHES developed into a brief training package for the national and international breastfeeding workforce. The training will focus on two of the most important areas of knowledge and skill for effective breastfeeding: positioning and attachment."
Louise Bracken, Pro Vice-Chancellor for Research and Knowledge Exchange added: "Northumbria is a research-intensive university that takes on tomorrow’s challenges by making a positive difference to people and communities, while maintaining its clear focus on social mobility. The Sir Halley Stewart Trust grant, which has been secured in collaboration with the Alumni & Philanthropy Department, supports the University’s ambition to deliver cutting-edge research with world-leading impact."
Northumbria University is dedicated to reducing health and social inequalities, contributing to the regional and national workforce and improving social, economic and health outcomes for the most marginalised in society.
This grant supports Northumbria University’s upcoming plans for its new flagship Centre for Health and Social Equity (CHASE), due to open in 2028. Through CHASE our researchers will deliver world-leading, interdisciplinary health and social equity research and creating innovative, evidence-based policies and data-driven solutions to bring impactful change across the region, the UK and globally.
To find out more, contact Sue Vout, Trust and Foundation Manager at sue.vout@northumbria.ac.uk.
