Rebecca A. Kuehl

Policies Aren’t Enough The Importance of Interpersonal Communication about Workplace Breastfeeding Support

Background: Formal policies can establish guidelines and expectations for workplace breastfeeding support. However, interpersonal communication between employees and managers is the context where such policies are explained, negotiated, and implemented. As such, this article focuses on interpersonal communication about breastfeeding support in the workplace. Objective: The objective of this article is to describe interpersonal communication related to workplace breastfeeding support. Methods: We conducted 3 focus groups with 23 business representatives from a rural city in the Midwest United States. Participants were recruited through the area chamber of commerce. We analyzed the transcripts of the focus groups and derived themes related to the study objective. Results: Our analysis of responses from business representatives in the focus groups revealed 3 major themes about interpersonal communication concerning breastfeeding support in the workplace: (1) interpersonal communication may be more important than written communication for enacting breastfeeding support, (2) multiple factors (age, sex, and power dynamics) complicate the interpersonal communication required to enact breastfeeding support in local businesses, and (3) positive interpersonal communication strategies may improve the success of workplace breastfeeding support. Conclusion: Interpersonal communication between employees and managers is where the specifics of workplace breastfeeding support (eg, policies) are determined and applied. Interpersonal communication about breastfeeding can be challenging due to issues such as age, sex, and power dynamics. However, positive and open interpersonal communication can enhance workplace breastfeeding support.

The Rhetorical Presidency and “Accountability” in Education Reform: Comparing the Presidential Rhetoric of Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush

To assess how presidential rhetoric shapes public policy over time, this essay analyzes the rhetorical frame of accountability and its role in the current education policy of No Child Left Behind (NCLB). The essay compares the presidential rhetoric of two U.S. presidents, Ronald Reagan and George W. Bush, because President Reagans rhetoric about the standards movement set the stage for the current education policy of NCLB and President Bushs rhetoric of accountability with federal funds. The article concludes that an emphasis on individual accountability and personal responsibility continues to shape education reform and public policy across partisan lines, even with President Obamas administration. Such rhetoric prevents education reform that focuses on increasing equality for students in the United States. The article suggests rhetorical framing recommendations for the Obama administration and future presidents.

Designing public communication about doulas: analyzing presence and absence in promoting a volunteer doula program

Expectant parents use health communication messaging to make decisions about their childbirth plans. Recently, women have increasingly chosen to use doulas, or people who provide non-medical support during childbirth. This essay analyzes how a hospital designed public communication through promotional efforts regarding their no-cost, volunteer doula program. We use rhetorical analysis to analyze 19 promotional texts. By analyzing these materials through the rhetorical method of presence and absence, we found that the health discourse related to the doula program gave presence to expectant mothers. Additionally, the benefits of doulas, especially in relation to fathers or partners, remained absent in promoting the volunteer doula program. Through specific communication design recommendations, we focus on how to improve this communication to increase the use of doulas in our community, and in other communities. We conclude with implications and limitations of the study.

Breastfeeding Support in the Workplace: The Relationships Among Breastfeeding Support, Work–Life Balance, and Job Satisfaction:

Background: Women are increasingly faced with decisions about how to combine breastfeeding with work, but few researchers have directly measured how breastfeeding relates to the work–life interface. Research aim: The authors examined how perceptions of work enhancement of personal life and work interference with personal life were influenced by workplace breastfeeding support, including organizational, manager, and coworker support, as well as adequate time to express human milk. Then, we examined how workplace breastfeeding support predicted work–life variables and job satisfaction. Methods: Using a self-report, survey design, the authors analyzed online surveys from 87 women in a rural, community sample who indicated that they had pumped at work or anticipated needing to pump in the future. Results: According to regression results, provision of workplace breastfeeding support, particularly providing adequate time for human milk expression, predicted work enhancement of personal life. Conversely, we found that as workplace support diminished, employees perceived greater work interference with personal life. Results of path analysis further suggested that providing time for expressing milk improved job satisfaction via a partially mediated relationship where work enhancement of personal life acted as a mediator. Conclusion: These results suggest that employers can enhance the lives of their breastfeeding employees both at work and at home by providing workplace breastfeeding support, especially through providing time for expressing human milk in the workplace.

Blending Qualitative, Quantitative, and Rhetorical Methods to Engage Citizens in Public Deliberation to Improve Workplace Breastfeeding Support

To improve breastfeeding support in local businesses in Brookings, SD, researchers from South Dakota State University partnered with Brookings Health System, the Brookings Area Chamber of Commerce, local breastfeeding advocates, and an expert public deliberation moderator to conduct community-based participatory research leading to a public deliberation event. The collaborative team took a mixed-methods approach, using qualitative, quantitative, and rhetorical methods to collect and analyze data across two phases of the project: formative research (Phase I) and implementation (Phase II). During Phase I, the team conducted focus groups and marketed the project. Results from Phase I shaped the conversations at the public deliberation event in Phase II. At the event, community members deliberated about the issue of breastfeeding support in Brookings businesses, and they identified action steps. Following that event, the community members delegated actions and the collaborative team disseminated results from the project. This case study emphasizes the collaborative nature of community-based participatory research and the importance of clear communication throughout the process. In each stage of the project, every team member was meaningfully involved with the research process and had ownership of the products we produced. This level of collaboration was made possible through clear communication between team members that came from very different backgrounds, e.g., education, health, or business. Team members respectfully listened to each other’s diverse perspectives and provided unique expertise; the team then modelled those same communication skills with the community as it sought community input and led a public deliberation event.

Brookings supports breastfeeding: using public deliberation as a community-engaged approach to dissemination of research

Empirical evidence demonstrates myriad benefits of breastfeeding for mother and child, along with benefits to businesses that support breastfeeding. Federal and state legislation requires workplace support for pumping and provides protections for public breastfeeding. Yet, many are unaware of these laws, and thus, support systems remain underdeveloped. We used a community-based approach to spread awareness about the evidence-based benefits of breastfeeding and breastfeeding support. We worked to improve breastfeeding support at the local hospital, among local employers, and throughout the broader community. Our coalition representing the hospital, the chamber of commerce, the university, and local lactation consultants used a public deliberation model for dissemination. We held focus groups, hosted a public conversation, spoke to local organizations, and promoted these efforts through local media. The hospital achieved Baby-Friendly status and opened a Baby Café. Breastfeeding support in the community improved through policies, designated pumping spaces, and signage that supports public breastfeeding at local businesses. Community awareness of the benefits of breastfeeding and breastfeeding support increased; the breastfeeding support coalition remains active. The public deliberation process for dissemination engaged the community with evidence-based promotion of breastfeeding support, increased agency, and produced sustainable results tailored to the community’s unique needs.

Civic Engagement and Public Health Issues: Community Support for Breastfeeding Through Rhetoric and Health Communication Collaborations1

As the U.S. public faces a discursive climate characterized by incivility and partisanship, scholars have the opportunity to productively influence public discourse, especially the deliberations of leaders and other community members (Carcasson, 2011). How might rhetorical studies of health improve their public position regarding civic engagement and community problem-solving? We argue that rhetorical studies of health can productively engage the public through scholars’ participation in collaborative community problem-solving and deliberation about public concerns. In working to improve the public significance of rhetorical studies of health, some important considerations include collaboration within and outside of the academy, the dual roles of the citizen-scholar, spheres of argument, and making public scholarship visible and valuable.

Introduction to the Special Issue on the Rhetoric of the 2016 U.S. Election

In the introduction to the special issue, we provide arguments concerning the context surrounding the 2016 U.S. election. We explain our rationale for the special issue, as well as include an overview of the articles that compose the issue. We conclude with thanking everyone who made this special issue possible.

Communicatively Making Sense of Doulas within the U.S. Master Birth Narrative: Doulas as Liminal Characters

ABSTRACT Doulas—or designated women experienced in childbirth who provide support to a birthing mother—have been shown to improve mothers’ medical outcomes, but they are relatively underused in U.S. births. We assert that doulas are rarely used, in part, because it is difficult to situate them within the contemporary U.S. master birth narrative that places family and medical staff as expected characters in the birth story. This qualitative study uses narrative theorizing to describe the communicatively situated position of doulas in light of the dominant U.S. master birth narrative. Through an analysis of interviews and focus groups with mothers, expectant parents, doulas, and medical staff (n = 52) at a community hospital, we explain how individuals communicatively located the doula as a character who occupied a liminal space that is (a) between borders, (b) crossing borders, and (c) outside borders. Although doulas’ liminal location enables individuals to creatively explain and promote doulas to important publics, doulas’ conceptual ambiguity in the birth narrative can also be constraining. We conclude with theoretical and practical implications.

Global citizenship in intercultural communication: Spatial awareness of globalization through map your consumption*

ABSTRACT Courses: This teaching unit is for intercultural communication but could be used for any course related to globalization, including public speaking, popular culture and communication, or environmental communication. Additionally, the teaching unit is well-suited for other disciplines, including geography, environmental studies, and global studies. Objectives: Students trace the manufacturing origins of their belongings in order to analyze their connections with other countries through plotting them on a world map. Students research economic, cultural, and/or political globalization of one or two countries plotted on their map in order to consider how to practice ethical consumption.