Many women who come to Australia have a pragmatic attitude to traditional Key conclusions: Participants in this study were of the view that engaging in sex during pregnancy was essential in ensuring smooth delivery and highly recommended for women. Pregnancy is not covered under general health insurance in Japan. After delivery, they go for some herbs to prepare Abedru so that the breast milk will come (Woman with baby under five years, FGD). I also have some medicine that I apply on the babys body for it to disappear (TBA, IDI). During the elaborate ceremony, the placenta is cleaned, put in a sealed container, wrapped in white cloth and then buried outside of the home. These maternity vouchers are included as part of a maternity pack expecting mothers will receive from the local city office which also includes the Maternity and Children Health Handbook (, boshi-kenk-tech). Queries were also run in NVivo to quantify some of the qualitative data and the results exported and added to the qualitative data in the results. It is because of this that some women prefer to come to our facility (TBA, IDI). The PubMed wordmark and PubMed logo are registered trademarks of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Jamaican women who find themselves pregnant have been known to count on their bible, quite literally actually. Design: Both harmful and harmless practices were identified. Usually that is an option, particularly at anacademic medical center. Further, what the medical institutions can and cannot offer in terms of medical services also differs. Whereas some indicated that sexual intercourse could begin 40 days after delivery, many of them noted they started having sex 3 months after delivery. When it comes to having babies, every culture has its own special customs. How natural is the supernatural? The studys findings showed that socio-cultural beliefs and practices are widespread covering antenatal through childbirth to the postnatal period. However, the unanimous position was that sex activity could start at least 40 days after delivery. Some participants also believed that eating of egg during pregnancy was forbidden because it will make the babys head soft as illustrated in the quote: the reason why you are not supposed to eat egg is because if you deliver, your babys head becomes very soft, I have tried it and it is true so I had to put a towel in hot water to always massage the babys head until about forty days time it became good so we stopped (Woman with child under five, FGD). These codes were turned unto nodes within the software. The majority of participants come from Western nations. To celebrate the new baby and get milk flowing, mothers drink a traditional beverage called lohusa serbeti (postpartum sherbet). JA designed the study, participated in data collection and analysis, and prepared the draft of the manuscript; EA and PBA provided scientific advice on the design of the study and data analysis. Please enable it to take advantage of the complete set of features! After each interview session, the recording was replayed to participants to listen and to make the necessary additions, subtractions, and clarifications deemed necessary. What may surprise some is that the majority of hospitals, clinics, and maternity homes in Japan require expecting mothers to make a reservation for the birth in advance. Some participants for instance, were of the view that the breastmilk was inadequate for the baby, hence there was the need to give other food supplements such as mashed kenkey and artificial milk sources. Register a free Taylor & Francis Online account today to boost your research and gain these benefits: Socio-cultural beliefs and practices during pregnancy, child birth, and postnatal period: A qualitative study in Southern Ghana, 1 World Health Organization Country Office for Ghana, Ghana;2 Department of Social and Behavioural Sciences, School of Public Health, College of Health Sciences, University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana, Cultural beliefs and practices of women influencing home births in rural Northern Ghana, Global, regional, and national levels and trends in maternal mortality between 1990 and 2015, with scenario-based projections to 2030: A systematic analysis by the un Maternal Mortality Estimation Inter-Agency Group, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(15)00838-7, Maternal death in rural Ghana: A case study in the Upper East region of Ghana, Social cognitive theory: An agentic perspective, Beyond symptom recognition: Care-seeking for ill newborns in rural Ghana, https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1365-3156.2007.01981.x, Community-based interventions for improving perinatal and neonatal health outcomes in developing countries: A review of the evidence, Maternal care practices among the ultra poor households in rural Bangladesh: A qualitative exploratory study, Causes of neonatal deaths in a rural subdistrict of Bangladesh: Implications for intervention, Qualitative research designs: Selection and implementation, Time to initiation of breastfeeding and neonatal mortality and morbidity: A systematic review, https://doi.org/10.1186/1471-2458-13-S3-S19, A review of cultural influence on maternal mortality in the developing world, https://doi.org/10.1016/j.midw.2012.04.002, A two-year review of uterine rupture in a regional hospital, Healthcare in Low-resource Settings: The individual perspective, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-0-387-79061-9_2695, Huge poor-rich inequalities in maternity care: An international comparative study of maternity and child care in developing countries, Contextual social cognition and the behavioral variant of frontotemporal dementia, https://doi.org/10.1212/WNL.0b013e3182518375, An intervention involving traditional birth attendants in Pakistan, Every newborn: Progress, priorities, and potential beyond survival, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(14)60496-7, Cultural childbirth practices and beliefs in Zambia, https://doi.org/10.1046/j.1365-2648.2003.02709.x, Perception of care in Zambian women attending community antenatal clinics, The Ghana community-based health planning and services initiative for scaling up service delivery innovation, Orthodox versus unorthodox care: A qualitative study on where rural women seek healthcare during pregnancy and childbirth in Southwest, Nigeria, Food prohibitions and other traditional practices in pregnancy: A Qualitative study in Western Region of Ghana, The effect of community nurses and health volunteers on child mortality: The Navrongo community health and family planning project, https://doi.org/10.1080/14034940701349225, Nyo dua hli30 days confinement: Traditions and changed childbearing beliefs and practices among Hmong women in Australia, Maternal mortality in Ghana: The other side, Committing to child survival A promise renewed, Phenomenological research methods for counseling psychology, https://doi.org/10.1037/0022-0167.52.2.167, Local understandings of vulnerability and protection during the neonatal period in Sylhet district, Bangladesh: A qualitative study, https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(05)66836-5. Required documents will depend on your resident status, but typically you will need to submit the following documents. In relation to sexual practices after birth, participants generally agreed that the practice could vary among couples. The maternity vouchers act as discount vouchers; they do not cover the full cost of the check-ups. In effect, the context in which an individual is, tends to exert some control over the persons behavioural tendencies. For example, the belief was that women developed internal wounds after delivery. While pregnancy and childbirth is a universal experience, having a baby in another culture can be full of surprises. For Japan and Israel, they can be effectively summed up by environmentalism and geneticism, respectively. In addition, participants indicated that swelling of the feet was sign that the baby in the uterus was a male. More in: The Asante Akim North District with its capital Agogo is situated at the eastern part of the Ashanti Region. Careers. Search Conditions & Treatments Certain cultural beliefs and attitudes, including social support for pregnancy and motherhood; and behavior before, during and after pregnancy, have been used to account for healthy birth outcomes and low rates of infant mortality and morbidity, particularly among recent immigrants. You will need to pay a deposit at the time of reservation. The following quotes are illustrations of that practice: There are herbs we give to pregnant women from five months onwards to help in the birth process. Additionally, doctors should provide and advocate for improved access to care. We must communicate in ways that make women feel cared for without judgment. Traditionally, doctors are scientific and data-driven. Japanese doctors won't warn you against the consumption of raw fish. Introduction: Just ask any foreign woman who has given birth in Japan. Authors: Mellissa Withers,Nina Kharazmi (MPH Student), Esther Lim (Clinical Research Coordinator) As noted by Creswell et al. Pregnancy, child birth, and care are cherished moments in most communities in Ghana. Women may stop working six weeks before. They do not accommodate regular checkups. The findings of this study that the use of herbs during labour to facilitate the process was a common practice among women. The country has a high and rising proportion of underweight babies, defined as 2.5kg or less at birth. Further, it was revealed that socio-cultural practices such as not crossing rivers and confinement made some women not show up for ANC. If they do not feel that they can exercise control over their health behaviour, they are not motivated to act, or to persist through challenges. (Citation2012) have also summarised the process of thematic analysis as consisting of reading through textual data, identifying themes in the data, coding those themes, and then interpreting the structure and content of the themes. We work to match offerings in the hospital with specific diets and personal likes and dislikes. Would you like email updates of new search results? The yellow babies is something that happens. We used focus group discussions (FGDs) and in-depth interviews (IDIs) for this study. This is the case for Japanese and foreigners alike. That is the reason why I delivered at the TBAs place. However, neonates with these conditions may not have access to good medical care because of the mandatory confinement as a way of protecting the baby against evil eyes. More information is needed on the benefits of formal maternal healthcare services; such educational programs should be geared towards not only women but also husbands, parents, and in-laws. The codebook defined the various codes used during coding, their definition, when to use and when not to use such a code and examples of statements that should be considered for coding into particular codes. New Patient Appointment, Appointment You can see the statistics by prefecture and type of institution here (Japanese only). So, my mother advised me to give him water and he stopped. This practice was believed to make the baby healthy and also prevent the skin from becoming dried up as illustrated with the quote: We massage the baby with mustard oil or shea butter to make the baby healthy and prevent drying up of the skin (Postnatal woman, IDI). As a result, neonate and mother are confined for periods ranging from 1 week to about 40 days. The growing recognition of the critical importance of providing care to mothers and newborns and the substantial coverage gaps have prompted a paradigm shift in responding to maternal and newborn health issues. This first washing symbolizes that the mother isnt alone is raising her child, and that the community will always be there to help her. Originally created for low-income families to give all babies an equal start in life, Finlands freebie package became available to all moms in 1949. Publication Link:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0266613817302012?via%3Dihub#! Postpartum care is called omugwo, a key component of which is babys first bath, given to him by his grandmother (or, if shes unavailable, an aunt or close friend). Semi-structured FGD and IDI guides were used to collect data for this study. Socio-cultural beliefs in communities often lead to the adoption of certain practices during pregnancy, childbirth, and postnatal period. The process included reading and rereading of the interviews and focusing on the identification of themes relating to the beliefs and practices relating to intrapartum and postpartum continuum of care at community. Choudry, U. K. (1997). Your Pregnancy Matters, Appointment This site needs JavaScript to work properly. Of these, half gave birth within the past three years. In Bangladesh, an earlier study reported that confinement of the mother and baby was observed until noai ceremony on day 7 or 9 to protect the baby against any evil (Winch et al., Citation2005). 2023 Jan 16;15(2):472. doi: 10.3390/nu15020472. As a result, we do not have permission from the participants to share the raw data. Pregnancy is acknowledged but not celebrated. The Japan Taxi app is okay in the Tokyo area but its not something I would want to rely on in an emergency. Participants in the FGDs mentioned food restriction during the period of puerperium. Our patients represent a broad spectrum of ethnicities and walks of life, as well as a tapestry of beliefs and customs that help shape their values. That notwithstanding, participants also agreed that generally, there was the need for one to space the children. When I take all the folic acid given to me at the hospital I give birth to a big baby so this time around I took only half of the medicine because when the babies are big they suffer in coming out during delivery (Postnatal woman, FGD). The rural areas have a total population of 36,990 representing 53.5% of the population of the District relative to 46.5% residing in urban localities (GSS, Citation2010). The process of pregnancy and childbirth is permeated with strong cultural practices and traditional beliefs that impact maternal healthcare utilisation (Houweling et al., Citation2007; Rice, Citation2000). It is called jid-teate () in Japanese. English versions of the Maternity and Children Health Handbook are also available. To explore Korean beliefs and attitudes towards pregnancy, birth and postpartum practices: . Minato Citys website is also a good source for updated information in English. Additionally, some patients feel strongly that procedures such as a hysterectomy reduce a womans body image or womanhood. These practices were often aimed at restoring the mother to pre-gestation state and also facilitate the growth of the baby. and transmitted securely. These beliefs lead to practices during and along pregnancy, childbirth, and postpartum periods. The SCT proposes that behaviour change describes a dynamic, ongoing process in which personal factors, environmental factors, and human behaviour exert influence on each other. New Patient Appointment That works only when someone wants to be treated the same way as you..