Scholars@Duke
Aunchalee E Loscalzo Palmquist

Aunchalee E Loscalzo Palmquist CV

Associate Professor of the Practice of Global Health
Duke Global Health Institute
CV

Selected Publications

Learning from Peers: A Qualitative Study to Inform the Development of a Community Tailored Peer Support Intervention to Support Healthy Infant Growth.

Journal Article Nutrients · December 2025 BackgroundObesity is a chronic disease that has negative health consequences for children. Peer support models have been used to manage chronic diseases like diabetes; however, little is known about how a peer support intervention might promote he ... Full text Cite

How menopause symptoms shape experiences of the criminal legal system: A qualitative study across the United States.

Journal Article Social science & medicine (1982) · November 2025 IntroductionThe number of midlife individuals involved in the criminal legal system has increased significantly in recent decades. Despite this growth, little is known about the ways in which experiences of midlife, including the menopause transit ... Full text Cite

Systematic Review of Human Milk Feeding Practices and Policies in Infant and Young Child Feeding Trainings for Early Care and Education Providers.

Journal Article Journal of nutrition education and behavior · October 2025 IntroductionEarly care and education (ECE) providers play a critical role in supporting infant and young child feeding (IYCF) practices for US children. This systematic review synthesizes literature on IYCF interventions and curricula for training ... Full text Cite

Mapping fertility trajectories: An endarkened narrative inquiry of Black women's fertility experiences and pathways through infertility treatment.

Conference Social science & medicine (1982) · July 2025 While existing literature has documented barriers and facilitators to Black women's access to infertility treatment, scholars have a limited understanding of the experiences of Black women who have initiated medically assisted reproduction (MAR), including ... Full text Cite

“Everyone is fighting their own battles”: A qualitative study to explore the context of suicidal ideation among people with HIV (PWH) in Kilimanjaro, Tanzania

Journal Article PLOS Mental Health · May 20, 2025 Tanzania faces significant HIV-related challenges with 1.4 million people currently living with HIV, 33,000 new infections, and 22,000 AIDS-related deaths annually. Suicide is a leading cause of death among People with HIV (PWH), with one-quarter o ... Full text Cite

Challenges and support factors in managing type 2 diabetes among pregnant women in Thailand: A convergent mixed-methods study.

Journal Article Belitung nursing journal · January 2025 BackgroundSociocultural and behavioral factors have a multifaceted impact on maternal health. In Thailand, cultural influences significantly shape behaviors of diabetes self-management in women. However, the experience of self-managing diabetes in ... Full text Cite

"Feeding the baby breast milk shouldn't be a problem" breastfeeding confidence and intention in pregnant persons with type 2 diabetes mellitus from Thailand.

Journal Article PLOS global public health · January 2025 Breastfeeding initiation has been found to be lower in pregnant persons with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). However, no studies have explored the potential impact of T2DM during pregnancy on breastfeeding plans among Thai pregnant persons. This study aim ... Full text Cite

Climate change, evolution, and reproductive health: The impact of water insecurity and heat stress on pregnancy and lactation.

Journal Article Evolution, medicine, and public health · January 2025 Global water insecurity and rising heat indices have a significant impact on human health. There is an urgent need to understand these climate impacts on the most physiologically and socially vulnerable populations across the globe and use this information ... Full text Cite

"<i>I was told it was the pill that suits me"</i>: A qualitative study of women's perceptions and experiences of medical reasons for non-preferred contraceptive use.

Journal Article Women's health (London, England) · January 2025 BackgroundPeople have contraceptive autonomy when they can obtain their preferred contraceptive method. Non-preferred method use may result from inappropriate medical contraindications, which occur when providers apply incorrect contraceptive elig ... Full text Cite

Breastfeeding barriers and facilitators in Thai postpartum women with type 2 diabetes mellitus

Journal Article Nutrition and Health · January 1, 2025 Background: Breastfeeding positively influences glucose regulation in postpartum women with diabetes. Aim: This study aimed to describe breastfeeding barriers and facilitators in postpartum women with type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM). Methods: This qualitat ... Full text Cite

Innovations in Virtual Care

Chapter · February 22, 2024 Full text Cite

The 2024 U.S. Elections: Global Health Policy at a Crossroads.

Journal Article The Journal of law, medicine & ethics : a journal of the American Society of Law, Medicine & Ethics · January 2024 The 2024 U.S. election will shape the future of global health policy, with crucial implications for continuing U.S. leadership in global health. The United States has long played a critical role in global health governance, through multilateral institution ... Full text Cite

Biocultural Lactation: Integrated Approaches to Studying Lactation Within and beyond Anthropology

Journal Article Annual Review of Anthropology · October 23, 2023 This review examines anthropological contributions over the past decade to the biocultural processes and practices of lactation via the analytical pillars of colonialism, racial capitalism, and medicalization. The nexus of these three processes has been fo ... Full text Cite

Perinatal care and breastfeeding education during the COVID-19 pandemic: Perspectives from Kenyan mothers and healthcare workers.

Journal Article Maternal & child nutrition · October 2023 The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on breastfeeding (BF) practices in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) is not well understood. Modifications in BF guidelines and delivery platforms for breastfeeding education during the COVID-19 pandemic are hypot ... Full text Cite

Mental health status of internally displaced persons in the Garmian region of Kurdistan, Iraq: a cross-sectional survey.

Journal Article Medicine, conflict, and survival · June 2023 There are an estimated 4 million internally displaced persons (IDPs) in Iraq, mainly settled in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq, and yet few studies have documented the mental health of IDPs in the region. The aims of this study were (1) to assess the prevale ... Full text Cite

Maternal perceptions of human milk expression output: An experimental design using photographs of milk.

Journal Article Social science & medicine (1982) · May 2023 BackgroundThe widespread use of breast pumps in the United States is a recent phenomenon that is reshaping how individuals understand and perceive lactation. In the 1990s, adequacy of milk supply was primarily measured indirectly by infant weight ... Full text Cite

An equitable, community-engaged translational framework for science in human lactation and infant feeding-a report from "Breastmilk Ecology: Genesis of Infant Nutrition (BEGIN)" Working Group 5.

Journal Article The American journal of clinical nutrition · April 2023 Human milk is the ideal source of nutrition for most infants, but significant gaps remain in our understanding of human milk biology. As part of addressing these gaps, the Breastmilk Ecology: Genesis of Infant Nutrition (BEGIN) Project Working Groups 1-4 i ... Full text Cite

Cross-cultural adaptation and content validation of the Infant Feeding Intentions Scale for Thai pregnant women.

Journal Article PLOS global public health · January 2023 This study aimed to validate a translated and culturally adapted version of the Infant Feeding Intentions (IFI) Scale for use in Thailand. Prenatal breastfeeding intention is a strong indicator of breastfeeding initiation. The stronger the intention to bre ... Full text Cite

Lactation Support for People Who Are Incarcerated: A Systematic Review.

Journal Article Breastfeeding medicine : the official journal of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine · November 2022 Background: Lactation support, defined here as the access to educational resources, supplies, mental health and psychosocial support, skilled lactation counseling, and peer support, has been identified as critical to optimal health outcomes f ... Full text Cite

Menopause-related medication use among women age 45-75 experiencing incarceration in North Carolina 2015-2016.

Journal Article International journal of prisoner health · June 2022 PurposeThis study aims to estimate the prevalence of individuals receiving hormone therapy for menopause management and the prevalence of underlying conditions that may constrain options for pharmacologic menopause management in the prison context ... Full text Cite

Path analysis model of epidural/spinal anesthesia on breastfeeding among healthy nulliparous women: Secondary analysis of the United States Certificate of Live Births 2016.

Journal Article Birth (Berkeley, Calif.) · June 2022 BackgroundThe effect of epidural/spinal anesthesia during labor on breastfeeding is unclear. Few studies had assessed whether or how medically assisted delivery (operative vaginal delivery or unscheduled cesarean birth) plays a mediating role. We ... Full text Cite

Assessment of Perinatal Depression Risk among internally displaced Yazidi Women in Iraq: a descriptive cross-sectional study.

Journal Article BMC pregnancy and childbirth · April 2022 BackgroundYazidi survivors of a 2014 genocidal attack by the self-proclaimed Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) have complex medical and mental health needs in the perinatal and postpartum period. Few studies have assessed perinatal mental hea ... Full text Cite

'We make a mistake with shoes [that's no problem] but… not with baby milk': Facilitators of good and poor practice in distribution of infant formula in the 2014-2016 refugee crisis in Europe.

Journal Article Maternal & child nutrition · January 2022 The Infant and Young Child Feeding in Emergencies Operational Guidance (OG-IFE) gives direction on providing aid to meet infants' and young children's feeding needs in emergencies. Because of the risks associated with formula feeding, the OG-IFE provides l ... Full text Cite

Racial Disparities in Donor Human Milk Feedings: A Study Using Electronic Medical Records.

Journal Article Health equity · January 2022 IntroductionThe aim of this study was to evaluate differences in the use of pasteurized donor human milk (PDHM) by maternal race-ethnicity during postpartum hospitalization using electronic medical records (EMRs).Materials and methodsA re ... Full text Open Access Cite

Pandemic policies and breastfeeding: A cross-sectional study during the onset of COVID-19 in the United States.

Journal Article Frontiers in sociology · January 2022 The United States is one of the few countries, and the only high-income country, that does not federally mandate protection of postpartum employment through paid postpartum maternity and family leave policies. At the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in the U ... Full text Cite

Racial capitalism and the US formula shortage: A policy analysis of the formula industry as a neocolonial system.

Journal Article Frontiers in sociology · January 2022 The U.S. is currently experiencing a formula shortage and an infant feeding crisis that began with a formula recall and the hospitalization of 4 infants, 2 of whom died. Since 1981, governments around the world have been calling for an end to blatant human ... Full text Cite

Achieving Breastfeeding Equity and Justice in Black Communities: Past, Present, and Future.

Journal Article Breastfeeding medicine : the official journal of the Academy of Breastfeeding Medicine · June 2021 Background: Breastfeeding is protective of maternal and infant health across the life course. Increasing breastfeeding rates in Black communities is an important public health strategy to address maternal and infant mortality and morbidity. < ... Full text Cite

Experiences of menopause during incarceration.

Journal Article Menopause (New York, N.Y.) · March 2021 ObjectiveDespite increasing representation of older women in US jail and prison facilities, their menopause experiences and access to related care remain uncharacterized. Our objective is to explore the menopause experiences of women incarcerated ... Full text Cite

Ready, Set, BABY Live Virtual Prenatal Breastfeeding Education for COVID-19.

Journal Article Journal of human lactation : official journal of International Lactation Consultant Association · November 2020 Full text Cite

When separation is not the answer: Breastfeeding mothers and infants affected by COVID-19.

Journal Article Maternal & child nutrition · October 2020 The World Health Organization (WHO) has provided detailed guidance on the care of infants of women who are persons under investigation (PUI) or confirmed to have COVID-19. The guidance supports immediate post-partum mother-infant contact and breastfeeding ... Full text Open Access Cite

The COVID-19 liquid gold rush: Critical perspectives of human milk and SARS-CoV-2 infection.

Journal Article American journal of human biology : the official journal of the Human Biology Council · September 2020 Full text Cite

"It was all taken away": Lactation, embodiment, and resistance among mothers caring for their very-low-birth-weight infants in the neonatal intensive care unit.

Journal Article Social science & medicine (1982) · January 2020 The prevalence of infants born before 37 weeks of gestation continues to rise in the United States. Advances in neonatology have led to improved survival rates among preterm infants, including those born at a very-low-birth-weight (VLBW). Exclusive human m ... Full text Cite

Cooperative Lactation and the Mother-Infant Nexus

Chapter · January 1, 2020 Cooperative care of infants is theorised as a critically important social behaviour with profound implications for human evolution. Allomaternal nursing in humans is one part of this evolutionary cooperative care package. Shared investment in the provision ... Full text Cite

Current Trends in Research on Human Milk Exchange for Infant Feeding.

Journal Article Journal of human lactation : official journal of International Lactation Consultant Association · August 2019 Breastfeeding is critical for the healthy growth and development of infants. A diverse range of infant-feeding methods are used around the world today. Many methods involve feeding infants with expressed human milk obtained through human milk exchange. Hum ... Full text Cite

A pilot study on nutrients, antimicrobial proteins, and bacteria in commerce-free models for exchanging expressed human milk in the USA.

Journal Article Maternal & child nutrition · December 2018 Expressed human milk can be donated or sold through a variety of channels, including human milk banks, corporations or individuals, or peer-to-peer milk sharing. There is a paucity of research regarding the nutrient and bioactive profiles of expressed huma ... Full text Cite

Psychosocial dimensions of human milk sharing.

Journal Article Maternal & child nutrition · December 2018 Breastfeeding is critical to maternal and infant health. Psychosocial factors are associated with lactation outcomes, and perinatal mood disorders (PMDs) are often linked with breastfeeding difficulties and early, unexpected weaning. Parents may utilize hu ... Full text Cite

Advocacy: IBCLCs Advocating for Global Breastfeeding Through Skilled Lactation Support.

Journal Article Journal of human lactation : official journal of International Lactation Consultant Association · August 2017 Full text Cite

Contested moral landscapes: Negotiating breastfeeding stigma in breastmilk sharing, nighttime breastfeeding, and long-term breastfeeding in the U.S. and the U.K.

Journal Article Social science & medicine (1982) · November 2016 Recent public health breastfeeding promotion efforts have galvanized media debates about breastfeeding in wealthy, Euro-American settings. A growing body of research demonstrates that while breastfeeding is increasingly viewed as important for health, moth ... Full text Cite

Expanding the Supply of Pasteurized Donor Milk: Understanding Why Peer-to-Peer Milk Sharers in the United States Do Not Donate to Milk Banks.

Journal Article Journal of human lactation : official journal of International Lactation Consultant Association · May 2016 BackgroundLactating women in the United States have several options for what they do with excess breast milk, including donating to milk banks that serve medically fragile infants, sharing directly with families seeking milk, and selling to indivi ... Full text Cite

Human milk sharing practices in the U.S.

Journal Article Maternal & child nutrition · April 2016 The primary objective of this study is to describe human milk sharing practices in the U.S. Specifically, we examine milk sharing social networks, donor compensation, the prevalence of anonymous milk sharing interactions, recipients' concerns about specifi ... Full text Open Access Cite

Breastfeeding and intimacy

Chapter · January 1, 2015 Psychosexual functioning refers to the relationship between psychological factors and sexual functioning. Breastfeeding may influence psychosexual functioning at a variety of levels, from the individual to the relational. A number of physiological transiti ... Full text Cite

Contextualizing online human milk sharing: structural factors and lactation disparity among middle income women in the U.S.

Journal Article Social science & medicine (1982) · December 2014 Women in the U.S. face significant structural constraints in attempting to breastfeed as recommended in the first six months of their child's life. Internet-facilitated human milk sharing is an emergent response to breastfeeding challenges. Little is known ... Full text Cite

Age-related differences in biomedical and folk beliefs as causes for diabetes and heart disease among Mexican origin adults.

Journal Article Journal of immigrant and minority health · August 2012 An understanding of health beliefs is key to creating culturally appropriate health services for Hispanic populations in the US. In this study we explore age-based variations in causal beliefs for heart disease and diabetes among Mexican origin adults in H ... Full text Cite

Beliefs about cancer and diet among those considering genetic testing for colon cancer.

Journal Article Journal of nutrition education and behavior · May 2011 ObjectiveTo assess beliefs about the role of diet in cancer prevention among individuals considering genetic testing for Lynch Syndrome.DesignFamily-centered, cascade recruitment; baseline assessment of a longitudinal study.Setting Full text Cite

"The cancer bond": exploring the formation of cancer risk perception in families with Lynch syndrome.

Journal Article Journal of genetic counseling · October 2010 This study explores the social context of hereditary cancer risk perception in three families, an African-American family, a Mexican-American family, and a Caucasian family, each with Lynch Syndrome documented by a mismatch repair gene mutation. Communicat ... Full text Cite

Changes in female support network systems and adaptation after breast cancer diagnosis: differences between older and younger patients.

Journal Article The Gerontologist · August 2009 PurposeThis study evaluates the changes in social networks of older and younger breast cancer patients over a 6-month period following their first diagnosis and how such modifications are associated with changes in the patients' mood state.Des ... Full text Cite