loading page

ScholarOne - The quality of Lactation Accommodations in Higher Education
  • +2
  • Kacie Blackman,
  • Maya Habash,
  • TaVia Wooley,
  • Trevor Pickering,
  • Lisa Bandong
Kacie Blackman
California State University Northridge College of Health and Human Development

Corresponding Author:[email protected]

Author Profile
Maya Habash
Author Profile
TaVia Wooley
Author Profile
Trevor Pickering
Author Profile
Lisa Bandong
Author Profile

Abstract

Federal and California laws provide legal protections to lactating students in higher education; little research has assessed the implementation of these policies. This study evaluated the availability and quality of lactation accommodations across California universities. A 73-item coding tool was developed to evaluate 14 domains across 32 polices at 32 universities. Each domain and total scale were scored on two dimensions: comprehensiveness and strength. Median scores varied by policy category and school type (CSU, UC, private), with several domains lacking strong policies. Private schools had a lower median percentage of comprehensiveness in access and lactation support policies compared to UC and CSU schools (p’s ≤ 0.02). The median proportion of strengths in these categories was higher in UC schools compared to CSU and private schools (p’s = 0.03). Though, California universities mention some lactation policies, a more comprehensive set of stated policies is needed overall.
05 Jan 2024Submitted to Advance
01 Apr 2024Published in Advance