Breastfeeding experiences of patients in baby-friendly certified hospital settings: protocol for a scoping review

The Baby-friendly Hospital Initiative is a global programme that is meant to support breastfeeding within organisations. Most of the current literature is focused on implementation and uptake of the programme; however, little is known about the patient experience of breastfeeding within these settings. By exploring this current gap in the literature, we may discover important contextual elements of the breastfeeding experience. The objective of this protocol is to provide a framework for a scoping review where we aim to understand the extent and type of evidence in relation to the patient experience of breastfeeding in Baby-friendly Hospital Initiative (BFHI)-certified settings.

The proposed scoping review will be conducted in accordance with the Joanna Briggs Institute methodology for scoping reviews. The databases to be searched for relevant literature include MEDLINE, Embase, PsycINFO, CINAHL and Scopus in April 2023. A grey literature scan will include reviewing documents from professional organisations/associations. For all sources of evidence that meet the inclusion criteria, data will be extracted and presented in a table format. The results of the search and the study inclusion process will be reported in full in the final scoping review and presented in a Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses extension for scoping reviews. Participants in this review will include any individual who delivered their baby in a BFHI-certified setting. Exploring the patient experience will involve reviewing their subjective perceptions of events related to breastfeeding. These events must occur in a BFHI-certified hospital, and therefore, home births and other outpatient settings will be excluded.

Ethical approval is not required for this scoping review protocol or the final review. Knowledge gained from this research will be disseminated through the primary author's PhD dissertation work, as well as manuscript publications and conference presentations.