1. Objectifs

Intentions :
«[T]he goal of our study was to better understand the subjective experiences and meaning linked to the rejection of breastfeeding among Québec-born women living in context of poverty.» (p. 251)

2. Méthode

Échantillon/Matériau :
«The results of this study were drawn from a larger longitudinal study (Groleau et al.,2009; Groleau and Rodriguez, 2009) on infant feeding in the context of poverty in Québec, Canada. The sample of the larger study consisted of 62 low-income French-Canadian mothers living in various regions of the province. […] Three data collection methods were used in the larger study: focus groups, conducted in community center meeting rooms; two individual ethnographic interviews, completed at two separate times in the homes of mothers; and a quantitative socio-demographic questionnaire, completed by telephone.» (p. 252)

Type de traitement des données :
Analyse statistique
Analyse de contenu

3. Résumé

À la suite de leurs recherches, les auteurs mentionnent que les résultats «suggest that low educational levels limit access to the discursive power necessary to negotiate the hypersexualization of the breast in Western societies. Low levels of education may also make women more reliant on the experiential knowledge of family and friends, in which formula feeding is stressed as a healthy option for both baby and mother. Having a low-income and the corresponding limited sources of power also make these mothers more dependant of the ‘good mother’ criterion determined by the experiential knowledge of their kin. Together, poor levels of education and low income diminish women’s access to the knowledge and power necessary to negotiate and challenge the pervasive and reductionist views of women’s bodies and femininity that prevail in Western societies where formula-feeding is the habitus expected to be seen in social and public spaces. Breast feeding promotion and support activities need to take into account the social and symbolic meaning of breastfeeding and corresponding spatial predicaments it imposes on Western born women living in poverty. Public health cannot ignore the role played by social spaces in the promotion and support activities.» (p. 257)