Importance Of Creating Breastfeeding Facilities For Lactating Mothers At The Workplace: A Case Of Safaricom Kenya Limted
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Date
2016Author
Kobala, Jercynter A
Type
ThesisLanguage
enMetadata
Show full item recordAbstract
This was a cross sectional descriptive study exploring importance of creating
breastfeeding facilities for lactating mothers within Safaricom Kenya Limited. Thus, the
study sought to: examine the facilities put in place for breastfeeding mothers, understand
the benefits of breastfeeding spaces to mothers and Safaricom and establish challenges
faced by breastfeeding mothers at the workplace. The study was guided by the theory of
planned behaviour and data collected through in-depth interviews and key informant
interviews. The data was analyzed through constant comparative approach which is
consistent with the grounded theory and presented according to themes informed by the
study objectives. The findings indicate that breastfeeding facilities put in place by
Safaricom Kenya Limited play a significant role in the realization of optimal
breastfeeding objectives. Thus the facilities serve to meet the feeding on demand basis,
exclusive breastfeeding duration beyond the 90-day maternity leave as well as ensuring
great outcomes on the growth and development of the infants. Among the facilities put in
place include: Day-care centre equipped with milk storage facilities and running water,
lactation breaks, standby health worker and caregivers for the children. Further,
workplace support including training and availability of breastfeeding handbooks for
new mothers has been put in place by Safaricom. The facilities however, are faced by a
number of constraints including: conflicts between the lactating employees and
departmental supervisors on over-stayed breaks and the feeling of embarrassment of
public breastfeeding. The study recommends that there is an urgent need to address the
perception by mid-level management that workplace breastfeeding might undercut the
performance of female employees giving it a distractive face. Further, there is need for a
study on the experiences of female employees employed in the informal sector with
regards to exclusive breastfeeding.
Publisher
University Of Nairobi
Rights
Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 United StatesUsage Rights
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/3.0/us/Collections
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