Representaciones sociales de la lactancia materna y de la donación de leche humana en el Banco de Leche Humana del Hospital Universitario Departamental del municipio de Pasto, Nariño

Abstract

Human milk donation is a complementary process of breastfeeding that gives vulnerable babies the opportunity to receive a food that guarantees their optimal nutrition and offers greater chances of survival, however, this practice is little known in Nariño society by which the donation of human milk becomes scarce. The scenario of exchanges of meanings and meanings, as well as the constant dialogue that arises around the practice of human milk donation, provides the opportunity to analyze this phenomenon from the perspective of the Master in Communication, Development and Social Change, a program from which part of the present investigation. The purpose of the study was to find out how social representations regarding breastfeeding and human milk donation are constructed and circulated, both in the donor mother and in her social circle. The research was carried out under the interpretive hermeneutical approach with qualitative methodology, using the ethnographic method where the semi-structured interview technique was used. The findings of the study show that the conformation of the social representation of donation goes through various stages of knowledge, moving and rebuilding itself from the technical sphere of health, towards the popular sphere of the community where it becomes part of the collective imagination. On the other hand, the appropriation of these social representations depends to a great extent on the dissemination of positive experiences regarding breastfeeding and donation, the scientific knowledge internalized by the community and the positioning of the issue in the media. The results exposed a panorama loaded with negative cultural connotations towards women, which often confine them to domestic chores, in turn devaluing their role within society, however the inclusion of social representations and the practices of breastfeeding and The donation of breast milk, reconfigures the collective imagination to the point that they place the nursing-donor mother at the center of the social and family scene, giving her a privileged place in the established order, revaluing her image and her role within the construction and the affirmation of the social fabric. As a result of the adoption of breastfeeding practices, but especially the donation of human milk, the senses and meanings around these processes were transformed in different social circles due to their inclusion in individual and collective imaginaries, which a in turn, they support, perpetuate and disseminate the human milk donation strategy in the municipality of Pasto (N), thus benefiting the most vulnerable babies in the department.