Rationale

Describe about research planning and design, strengths and weaknesses, feasibility and ethical issues.

The selected study emerges with the importance of the beneficial effects associated with breastfeeding children to counter downgrading effects of various risks and infections. The over the years, extensive number of studies is well investigated and documented by the various professionals and scholars with the aim of establishing a critical point of view regarding the relevant areas of study. However, multiple benefits to both breastfeeding mothers and children are clearly signified by the multiple studies conducted in the field[1]. This particular study produced by Grummer-Strawn et al. is performed with the aim of elaborating a considerable amount of insight regarding the benefits of breastfeeding in protecting the paediatric overweight among the children. The intended methods applied in the course of the study have explored the specific link between the prospective duration of breastfeeding and overweight status of the children during their preliminary years. The particular purpose of the identified aim integrated with the methodology is highly contributed by the application of different data and statistics obtained from the national or global database. The critical analysis process adopted by the study provides special priority to the information collected from the ‘Paediatric Nutrition Surveillance System’ for extracting the useful evidence related to height and weight criteria of the children visiting the public health programme in relation to breastfeeding. The particular rationale of selecting the study depends heavily on the particular result put forwarded by the study revealing a significant presence of a protective relationship between the risk of overweight and dose-response of breastfeeding.

In the process of judging the validity of the concluding remarks reflected through the identified study, the overall planning and design process must need to be adequately defined while providing proper justification. The particular conclusion of the study exposes a critical fact associated with the association of prolonged breastfeeding with a reduced risk of overweight among the non-Hispanic white children. Some of the scholars like Weng et al. (2012) through their finding are completely agreed that multiple health benefits can be offered to the children with the help of prolonged breastfeeding for more than six months. Therefore, the methodologies of the study should need to provide special attention to the duration of breastfeeding among the identified population[2]. The proposed set of methodology should need to include various growth charts and graphs from the multiple agencies as if the one prioritised in the current study named ‘Centres for Disease Control and Prevention’. In order to outline the certain set of methods with their designs, the preliminary task should be determining the primary research question defined by the study[3]. The study formed with developing critical concern regarding the examination of increasing duration of breastfeeding provides assistance to lowering the risk of overweight in a population level of 4-years old in the United States.

Research Planning and Design

Considering the nature of the selected study, descriptive research design seems to be appropriate due to having no control over the variables presented through the outcomes of the identified study[4]. According to Horta and Victoria (2013), descriptive research is characterised by the set of simple activities for determining the summary drawn up by a selected attempt based on the description and identification of facts reflected through analytical research. As part of the evaluation, the efforts are placed on establishing the reasons behind the emergence of the specific finding alongside the way it comes into the light. The rationale behind selecting the particular research design is that the overall process cast light on the contemporary issues and challenges surrounding the preferred context while developing a pertinent data collection procedure facilitating a complete definition of the overall situation[5].

On the other hand, the methods applied for the constructing the analytical overview utterly relies on the evidence and statistics delineated in the study organized by the authors. The particular scenario suggests the use of a qualitative method for interpreting the outcomes and setting up an in-depth level of understanding dedicated to the readers[6]. Based on the guidelines of Pérez-Escamilla (2016), qualitative method involves the use of words, perceptions, and feelings exhibited by certain variables rather than focusing on the facts and numeric data obtained through the application of various experiments and interviews.

The particular study can criticised both from the perspective of its strengths and weaknesses regarding its primary outcomes and the methods and approaches followed during the achievement of specific objectives. From the strength area, it can be stated that the study has arguably solidified the benefits of breastfeeding to both mothers and children throughout the community. The study has provided a unique priority to the duration of breastfeeding to counter the risks among the children from certain age level. From the external investigation, it is experimented that few of the studies have shown interest in designing their approaches by focusing on importance of prolonged breastfeeding[7]. Distinctively, this study has shown such interest to outline the importance of prolonged breastfeeding with the intention of establishing a superior protection to paediatric overweight. Apart from that, the critical outcomes of the study divulge by the practical analysis of various realistic facts and evidence reflected in the national and international journals published by the popular agencies via conducting significant surveys.

Apart from the identified strengths, some essential weaknesses are also there in the course of developing the survey-based outcomes. Firstly, it should need to mention that the study is highly constructed through the results and facts derived from the previous surveys and statistics, which eradicates the key application of primary level of data collection to an extensive degree[8]. Secondly, the entire investigation is limited to a particular area of the chosen study, referring only to the prolonged benefit of breastfeeding while not concerning on the other significant variables associated with paediatric overweight among the children. Lastly, the application of the findings submitted by the overall attempt is only restricted to the lower income group, where the overall discussion lacks a clear indication regarding the applicability of proposed results in the other demographic segments of the community[9].

Strengths and Weaknesses

This particular research is conducted by accentuating the qualitative approach for assembling convenient substantiations and mounting justification of the study upshots. Therefore, a systematic and subjective tactic must need to be embraced for disseminating the description based on the various experiences associated with human lives and events holding useful meanings[10]. As stated by Yan et al. (2014), the qualitative methods and practices must focus on expedient experiences of the people belonging to the community while underscoring more on the uniqueness of people in relation to the chosen variables. Concerning this particular scenario, Woo and Martin (2015) argued that ethical issues would arise during the process of investigation if the overall social inquiry fails to provide an acceptable level of prominence on the human interpretation technique. Often the underlying cause of failure to provide exceptional importance through the survey process is based on the additional burden of developing a critical sense of individual experiences and the relevant condition of the associated community[11]. Therefore, the overall analytical system must need to be planned with taking intensive care for eliminating the identified ethical issues and developing a feasible framework satisfying the criteria regarding plausibility and trustworthiness.

References

Assunção ML, Ferreira HS, Coutinho SB, Santos LM, Horta BL. Protective effect of breastfeeding against overweight can be detected as early as the second year of life: a study of children from one of the most socially-deprived areas of Brazil. Journal of health, population, and nutrition. 2015 Mar;33(1):85.

Crume TL, Bahr TM, Mayer-Davis EJ, Hamman RF, Scherzinger AL, Stamm E, Dabelea D. Selective protection against extremes in childhood body size, abdominal fat deposition, and fat patterning in breastfed children. Archives of pediatrics & adolescent medicine. 2012 May 1;166(5):437-43.

Horta BL, Victora CG. Long-term effects of breastfeeding-a systematic review.

Hunsberger M, Lanfer A, Reeske A, Veidebaum T, Russo P, Hadjigeorgiou C, Moreno LA, Molnar D, De Henauw S, Lissner L, Eiben G. Infant feeding practices and prevalence of obesity in eight European countries–the IDEFICS study. Public health nutrition. 2013 Feb 1;16(02):219-27.

Pérez-Escamilla, R., 2016. Can Breastfeeding Protect Against Childhood Obesity?.

Salone LR, Vann WF, Dee DL. Breastfeeding: an overview of oral and general health benefits. The Journal of the American Dental Association. 2013 Feb 28;144(2):143-51.

Weng SF, Redsell SA, Swift JA, Yang M, Glazebrook CP. Systematic review and meta-analyses of risk factors for childhood overweight identifiable during infancy. Archives of disease in childhood. 2012 Dec 1;97(12):1019-26.

Woo JG, Martin LJ. Does breastfeeding protect against childhood obesity? Moving beyond observational evidence. Current obesity reports. 2015 Jun 1;4(2):207-16.

Yan J, Liu L, Zhu Y, Huang G, Wang PP. The association between breastfeeding and childhood obesity: a meta-analysis. BMC Public Health. 2014 Dec 13;14(1):1.

Yang Z, Huffman SL. Nutrition in pregnancy and early childhood and associations with obesity in developing countries. Maternal & child nutrition. 2013 Jan 1;9(S1):105-19.

Zheng JS, Liu H, Li J, Chen Y, Wei C, Shen G, Zhu S, Chen H, Zhao YM, Huang T, Li D. Exclusive breastfeeding is inversely associated with risk of childhood overweight in a large Chinese cohort. The Journal of nutrition. 2014 Sep 1;144(9):1454-9.