ABOUT THIS MODULE
Sometimes health care professionals can feel uncertain about how to best support the breastfeeding family as a whole. This module will provide you with the interpersonal knowledge and skills you need to encourage partner and close supporter involvement in the breastfeeding team. Including Partners & Supporters explores family perspectives on breastfeeding support and provides you with strategies to help your practice and workplace become more partner and supporter-friendly.
A note on inclusive terminology:
Some expectant or breastfeeding parents or parents who are considering breastfeeding or expressing their milk may not identify as mothers or as female, but as male, non-binary or gender diverse. These parents may not identify with the terms breasts or breastfeeding, and prefer alternative terminology, such as chest, chestfeeding or human milk feeding. In all circumstances, health care professionals will utilize patient and family centered care to be responsive to the particular context, self-identified gender, pronouns and preferred terminology of the families they support.
This module uses gender-neutral terminology whenever possible, such as the use of partner and breastfeeding parent instead of father and mother. In some instances, gender-specific terminology is used to accurately reflect the literature being cited.
Additional module resources:
COVID-19
Looking for up-to-date COVID-19 information on breastfeeding that you can share with families? Click here for information for expectant and new parents.
Find the latest COVID-19 updates for AHS staff and health care professionals in Alberta here.
LEARNING OBJECTIVES
After completing this module, you will be equipped to:- Recognize the influence and perspectives of partners and supporters on breastfeeding
- Recognize the different ways partners and supporters can be responsive to the breastfeeding parent’s needs
- Apply strategies that facilitate partner and supporter involvement in breastfeeding
- Apply the LEARN model to facilitate partner and supporter involvement in breastfeeding
TO NAVIGATE THROUGH THE ONLINE MODULE
- It is not recommended to access the online module on smartphones at this point as your learning experience might be compromised.
- Make sure performing all the interactive activities required in each topic, e.g. ‘click to …’ or quiz questions.
- “MARK COMPLETE”: When you go through the module the first time, you will notice the “MARK COMPLETE” button in the pages. Make sure clicking on it when you reach the bottom of a page. Please note it won’t allow you to move to the next lesson before you complete all the topics in a lesson. After you complete the whole module, the “MARK COMPLETE” will not be there anymore when you revisit the content.
- ‘TAKE NOTES’: To make notes for your own use, click on ‘TAKE NOTES’ at the upper right corner of your screen to open the notes field. All the course notes you have made can be found in a full list in the page of ‘My Courses’.
- ‘RESUME LEARNING”: For the convenience of self-paced learning, you may exit from the middle of the course and come back later. When you log into the e-learning portal again, click on ‘RESUME LEARNING’, and you will be redirected to where you left last time.
- Certificate of Completion / CME Certificate: Once you have completed the module, you will find the ‘Print Your Certificate’ button available at the top of this page. You may choose to print it or download it as PDF document.
- Return to this module overview page: When you are in the module, you may come back to this page by clicking on the module title at the bottom of the COURSE NAVIGATION widget, following ‘Return to’ in orange color.
ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
This one-credit-per-hour Self-Learning program meets the certification criteria of the College of Family Physicians of Canada and has been certified by the University of Calgary Office of Continuing Medical Education and Professional Development for up to 1.0 Mainpro+ credits.
This activity is an Accredited Self-Assessment Program (Section 3) as defined by the Maintenance of Certification Program of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada, and approved by University of Calgary Office of Continuing Medical Education and Professional Development. You may claim a maximum of 1.0 hours (credits are automatically calculated).
You may also perform Linking Learning exercises around a question you ask yourself as a result of learning from this program at: http://www.cfpc.ca/Linking_Learning_exercises/. Each completed Linking Learning exercise earns up to five Mainpro+ certified credits.
Accredited Royal College MOC Section 1 and Section 3 credits are eligible for certified Mainpro+ credits, up to a maximum of 50 credits per five-year cycle; any additional credits are eligible as non-certified Mainpro+ credits. MOC Section 3 accredited activities can be claimed at 3 credits per hour up to the cycle maximum.
Professional Development & Continuing Competence Program
After you finish this module, you will be able to download the certificate of completion for professional development and Continuing Competence Program (CPP) purposes.
If you are an AHS employee, you may also record completion of this course in AHS MyLearningLink. Log into MyLearningLink using your AHS user name and password. Click on My Information and Grades and record your completion of this module under External Learning Events.
Material presented are in compliance with the University of Calgary Copyright Policy, Acceptable Use of Material Protected by Copyright.
Course materials are for individual use only and not to be distributed.
- This course has received no commercial sponsorship support.
- This course was co-developed with AHS Early Years Health Promotion team and was planned to achieve scientific integrity, objectivity and balance.
- Faculty/PC disclosures:
| Faculty | Credentials | Disclosure | Affiliations |
|---|---|---|---|
| Lynnea Knight (Chair) | MPH, RN | Nothing to disclose | Health Promotion Facilitator II, Early Years Health Promotion, AHS |
| Bailey Adams | MD, CCFP, NABBLM-C, IBCLC | Nothing to disclose | University of Alberta, St. Albert & Sturgeon PCN |
| Lauren Eastman | MD, CCFP | College of Family Physicians of Canada, Examination Committee Member – Create examination questions for the CFPC Examination in Family Medicine; University of Alberta Department of Family Medicine (internal funding): Received funding for the following activities: summer student funding for investigation of state of longitudinal primary care in the Edmonton zone, purchasing of gifts of thank you to clinical educators in family medicine, team building activities for the family medicine residency program team | University of Alberta |
| Sanjeev Bhatla | MD, CCFP | Nothing to disclose | Family Medicine, Calgary Foothills PCN |
| Shawna Lamond | MD, CCFP, NABBLM-C, IBCLC | Honoraria for presenting at a conference – Calgary Breastfeeding Matters Group | Family Medicine, Calgary Foothills PCN |
| Sheila McDonald | PhD | CIHR funded grants as part of my adjunct Faculty appt and I am Co-PI of the All Our Families cohort | Manager, Early Years Health Promotion, AHS |
| Victoria Meah | PhD | Nothing to disclose | Health Promotion Facilitator II, Early Years Health Promotion, AHS |
| Utkarsh Subnis | PhD, MBBS | Nothing to disclose | Office of CME&PD University of Calgary |
| Charlie Kampman | BSc | Nothing to disclose | Office of CME&PD University of Calgary |
Lynnea Knight MPH RN (Chair)
Bailey Adams MD
Lauren Eastman CCFP
Sanjeev Bhatla MD CCFP
Shawna Lamond MD CCFP IBCLC
Sheila McDonald PhD
Victoria Meah PhD
Utkarsh Subnis PhD MBBS (CME Representative)
Kiyana Madani BSc (CME Representative)
AHS Early Years Health Promotion would like to thank all stakeholders across the maternal-child continuum of care who were involved in the development of this module.
For any tech issue you have in this module, please email the tech support team at ecme@ucalgary.ca.
For questions about the AHS 20-Hour Breastfeeding Course and related resources, please email the Early Years Health Promotion team at eyhp@ahs.ca.