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Multi-modal Intervention for Lactation Care (MILC) will be a mHealth platform to increase

Award Number: R44MD017174
ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL CENTER ON MINORITY HEALTH AND HEALTH DISPARITIES
OPDIV: NIH
AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY
AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 09/18/2021
PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 06/30/2025

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Multi-modal Intervention for Lactation Care (MILC) will be a mHealth platform to increase - PROJECT SUMMARY/ABSTRACT The 2017 Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) Breastfeeding Report Card reported that despite a high breastfeeding (BF) initiation of approximately 80% among the Hispanic population in the United States (US), less than 25% of infants were exclusively breastfed (EBF) through 6 months, further perpetuating ethnic disparities in chronic diseases such as diabetes, obesity, and hypertension. Hispanic women are more likely to supplement feeding with formula, than non-Hispanic or African American (AA) mothers. Research has reported that barriers such as insufficient BF education, lack of BF technical support (i.e. latching issues, sore nipples), returning to work, easy access to free or discounted formula milk from Women Infants and Children (WIC), lack of social support, perceived inconvenience, cultural belief that both formula and breastmilk (los- dos) is best for the babies, perception that the infant is not satiated, and embarrassment associated with breastfeeding result in premature weaning off BF among low-income Hispanic mothers. Therefore, increasing the duration of EBF and continuous BF among low-income Hispanic women would require an innovative and comprehensive approach that addresses the diverse range of barriers listed above. The proposed Fast-track proposal titled Multi-modal Intervention for Lactation Care (MILC) will be a mHealth platform that consists of the following innovative components: 1) Chat bot system to provide virtual peer counselor support; 2) Use of escalating magnitude of incentives contingent on remotely observed breastfeeding; 3) Asynchronous and synchronous communication tools to facilitate lactation and social support; and 4) Virtual peer mother to mother support network. We propose the following aims for the Phase I: 1) Conduct formative research with a) low-income Hispanic mothers, b) Certified and international board- certified lactation consultants (CLCs/IBCLCs) and c) in-depth Interviews (IDI)s with WIC staffs/primary care providers (PCPs). 2) Conduct pilot testing of MILC prototype with 20 low-income Hispanic BF mothers who delivered their babies at TUH and 5 CLC/IBCLCs working at TUH to demonstrate feasibility (usability and acceptance). We propose the following aims for the Phase II: 1) Modify Phase I MILC prototype for commercialization and; 2) Conduct a randomized control trial (RCT) with 178 participants from TUH and Christiana Care Health System (CCHS) and 20 CLCs/IBCLCs on MILC to assess MILC’s efficacy to significantly improve EBF rates at 6 months including increasing rates of any BF at month 1, month 3 and month 6. In the long term, the impact of MILC will increase the rates of EBF up to 6 months along with increasing rates of any BF up to 12 months.


Issue Date FY	Funding FY	Legal Entity Name	Legal Entity Address	Legal Entity City	Legal Entity State	Legal Entity Zip Code	Legal Entity COUNTY	Legal Entity COUNTRY	Assistance Listing	Award Code	Budget Year	Action Date	Action Type	Action Amount

Issue Date FY: 2025 ( Subtotal = $0 )
2025	2024	BENTEN TECHNOLOGIES, INC.	9408 GRANT AVE	MANASSAS	VA	20110	MANASSAS CITY	USA	Minority Health and Health Disparities Research	000	3	10/14/2024	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$0
														Subtotal = $0

Issue Date FY: 2024 ( Subtotal = $792,546 )
2024	2024	BENTEN TECHNOLOGIES, INC.	9408 GRANT AVE	MANASSAS	VA	20110	MANASSAS CITY	USA	Minority Health and Health Disparities Research	001	3	8/3/2024	NON-COMPETING CONTINUATION	$792,546
2024	2022	BENTEN TECHNOLOGIES, INC.	9408 GRANT AVE	MANASSAS	VA	20110	MANASSAS CITY	USA	Minority Health and Health Disparities Research	000	2	1/26/2024	EXTENSION WITH OR WITHOUT FUNDS	$0
														Subtotal = $792,546

Issue Date FY: 2023 ( Subtotal = $0 )
2023	2022	BENTEN TECHNOLOGIES, INC.	9408 GRANT AVE	MANASSAS	VA	20110	MANASSAS CITY	USA	Minority Health and Health Disparities Research	003	2	8/28/2023	EXTENSION WITH OR WITHOUT FUNDS	$0
2023	2021	BENTEN TECHNOLOGIES, INC.	9408 GRANT AVE	MANASSAS	VA	20110	MANASSAS CITY	USA	Minority Health and Health Disparities Research	002	1	6/30/2023	NEW	$0
2023	2021	BENTEN TECHNOLOGIES, INC.	9408 GRANT AVE	MANASSAS	VA	20110	MANASSAS CITY	USA	Minority Health and Health Disparities Research	001	1	6/26/2023	NEW	$3,008
2023	2021	BENTEN TECHNOLOGIES, INC.	9408 GRANT AVE	MANASSAS	VA	20110	MANASSAS CITY	USA	Minority Health and Health Disparities Research	000	1	6/20/2023	NEW	-$3,008
														Subtotal = $0

Issue Date FY: 2022 ( Subtotal = $825,014 )
2022	2022	BENTEN TECHNOLOGIES INC	9408 GRANT AVENUE, SUITE 206	MANASSAS	VA	20110	MANASSAS CITY	USA	Minority Health and Health Disparities Research	002	2	8/27/2022	EXTENSION WITH OR WITHOUT FUNDS	$825,014
2022	2021	BENTEN TECHNOLOGIES INC	9408 GRANT AVENUE, SUITE 206	MANASSAS	VA	20110	MANASSAS CITY	USA	Minority Health and Health Disparities Research	000	1	11/26/2021	NEW	$0
2022	2021	BENTEN TECHNOLOGIES INC	9408 GRANT AVENUE, SUITE 206	MANASSAS	VA	20110	MANASSAS CITY	USA	Minority Health and Health Disparities Research	001	1	5/23/2022	NEW	$0
														Subtotal = $825,014

Issue Date FY: 2021 ( Subtotal = $313,508 )
2021	2021	BENTEN TECHNOLOGIES INC	9408 GRANT AVENUE, SUITE 206	MANASSAS	VA	20110	MANASSAS CITY	USA	Minority Health and Health Disparities Research	000	1	9/18/2021	NEW	$313,508
														Subtotal = $313,508

Grand Total All Awards = $1,931,068

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Multi-modal Intervention for Lactation Care (MILC) will be a mHealth platform to increase

Award Number: R44MD017174

ORGANIZATION: NATIONAL CENTER ON MINORITY HEALTH AND HEALTH DISPARITIES

OPDIV: NIH

AWARD CLASS: DISCRETIONARY

AWARD ACTIVITY TYPE: SCIENTIFIC/HEALTH RESEARCH (INCLUDES SURVEYS)

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE START DATE: 09/18/2021

PERIOD OF PERFORMANCE END DATE: 06/30/2025

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