Infant feeding in the Third World: a critique of the literature

Integrative reviews of nursing research

Integrative reviews of research are a valuable part of the process of creating and organizing a body of literature. It has been argued that integrative reviews should be held to the same standards of clarity, rigor, and replication as primary research. In this paper methods for conducting an integrative review are discussed. Seventeen reviews from nursing journals were examined and compared with a proposed set of criteria for reviews. The results indicated that the majority of integrative reviews in nursing fell short of primary research standards. Guidelines for conducting more rigorous reviews are presented.

Breast feeding: differences in prevalence between caucasian and negroid women resident in Paddington and North Kensington, London, England

Three hundred and thirty-seven caucasian women and 150 negroid women who were resident in an inner London health district, who gave birth in the district's maternity unit and who were transferred home before 6 days after delivery were studied in respect of their intentions and practices for feeding their babies. Differences in the numbers breast feeding within and between various sub-groups of the two racial groups were compared and inferences drawn in respect of to which group effort in promoting breast feeding should be directed.