A Multi-Theory Conceptual Framework for Understanding Online Milk Sharing Experiences in Malaysia

Background: Milk sharing through social media platforms, particularly Facebook, has emerged as a growing maternal practice in Malaysia, yet it remains underexplored. While often discussed through the lenses of public health and religion, little is known about the underlying motivations, social dynamics, and structural influences that shape this behaviour in culturally and religiously sensitive contexts. Methods: This conceptual paper employed a theory-informed approach to integrate Self-Efficacy Theory, the Theory of Planned Behaviour, Online Social Support Theory and the Liberation Health model into a multi-theory framework for understanding the milk-sharing experiences of donors and recipient mothers in Malaysia. Results: The resulting framework demonstrates how individual, interpersonal, digital, sociocultural, and institutional factors interact to shape milk-sharing behaviours. It enhances theoretical understanding and provides practical guidance for developing culturally sensitive, ethically grounded, community-supported, and religion compliant human milk donation systems. Conclusion: The proposed multi-theory framework provides a comprehensive and contextually relvant explantaion of online milk-sharing experiences in Malaysia. Further empirical validation is required to assess its applicability across diverse populations, sociocultural contexts and healthcare settings.