How natural is the supernatural? Synthesis of the qualitative literature from low and middle income countries on cultural practices and traditional beliefs influencing the perinatal period

Raman, Shanti; Nicholls, Rachel; Ritchie, James; Razee, Husna; Shafiee, Samaneh

doi:10.1016/j.midw.2016.05.005

Cited by 33 publications

(35 citation statements)

References 87 publications

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“…The women engaged in traditional practices to protect their baby from evil spirits. These findings concur with many studies in LMIC (Raman, Nicholls, Ritchie, Razee, & Shafiee, ; Sein, ). A literature review by Raman et al () reported that many pregnant women in LMIC continue to be guided by older family and community members in relation to warning off malevolent forces.…”

Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Migrant Burmese women living in southern Thailand and motherhood: An ethnographic study

Phanwichatkul

Burns

Liamputtong

et al. 2019

Nursing & Health Sciences

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Migrants to Thailand come from low‐income border countries, such as Burma (Myanmar). Generally, migrant women experience difficulties obtaining high‐quality health care due to socioeconomic barriers and conflicts with their practices. The aim of this study was to explore migrant Burmese women's experiences of becoming a mother while living in Thailand and their perceptions of motherhood, family support, and traditional postpartum practices. The study used an ethnographic design. In 2015, data were gathered through individual interviews with 10 migrant Burmese women before and after birth. Interview and field note data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Four themes emerged from the data: (i) the more children, the stronger the family; (ii) finding ways to promote baby's health and growth; (iii) sharing responsibility to fulfill parenting role; and (iv) peer and family support. Becoming a mother was important to the Burmese women interviewed; however, as migrants in Thailand, they had to juggle work and care for young children. Most decided that once their child was school age they would be sent to Burma to live with relatives. They engaged in a range of traditional practices to support their infant's health and well‐being and protect their baby from evil spirits. Support from family, and the ability to participate in postpartum practices, were important for Burmese migrant women becoming mothers in Thailand.

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Section: Discussionsupporting

confidence: 92%

Migrant Burmese women living in southern Thailand and motherhood: An ethnographic study

Phanwichatkul

Burns

Liamputtong

et al. 2019

Nursing & Health Sciences

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“…Exploratory interviews conducted in the selected intervention communities prior to the baseline found evidence of cultural rituals that encouraged women to hide their pregnancies until other woman announced the pregnancy to the community by throwing water on the woman when she emerged from her house. Strong cultural traditions and beliefs in evil and supernatural influences related to pregnancy are widespread in Africa and encourage women to conceal their pregnancies [28]. These cultural traditions could explain why we found fewer numbers of network partners.…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 87%

Interpersonal communication regarding pregnancy-related services: friends versus health professionals as conduits for information

Dougherty

Stammer

Valente

2018

BMC Pregnancy Childbirth

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BackgroundSocial network characteristics influence a wide range of health behaviors but few studies examine the relationship between social network characteristics and pregnancy-related outcomes.MethodsUsing a baseline survey from a behavior change pilot project in the Upper West region of Ghana, we examine four outcomes: (1) early antenatal care, (2) having at least four antenatal care visits, (3) skilled birth attendance, and (4) postpartum care. We collected demographic and network data from 1606 women of reproductive age who had a child in the five years preceding the survey. We estimated associations by regressing the four pregnancy-related outcomes on the demographic and network characteristics.ResultsThe results suggest that there is little interpersonal communication about pregnancy-related issues, as 60.2% of respondents reported talking to no one. For those women who did talk to someone, communication with a health professional had the strongest association with accessing services (e.g., Adjusted Odds Ratio [AOR] = 8.02, p < 0.01, for having a facility birth). Communicating with friends was also significantly associated with outcomes (AOR = 4.23, p < 0.0, for having a facility birth).ConclusionsThis study provides evidence that there was little social communication about pregnancy-related issues in these communities at that time, indicating that an intervention to promote such communication could be successful. In addition, women who reported discussing pregnancy-related issues with friends or a health professional were more likely to access a birth facility and have a skilled birth attendant than those who reported discussing the same topics with their partner.

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“…Completeness of reporting and potential of bias were addressed within the tool, as well as appropriateness of study design, methods, data collection, and analysis methods used. Since CASP does not use assessment scores, we adopted a 3-point rating system similar to others [16,17,19,26,30,31]. For each checklist item, studies were scored with 2 points if a CASP criterion was met, 1 point if unable to determine, and 0 points if the standard was not met.…”

Section: Study Quality Assessment and Data Reportingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Thematic synthesis [32], as utilized in other qualitative reviews [16][17][18]22,23], was the qualitative evidence synthesis method employed. This approach is designed to identify new themes and concepts, while maintaining conclusions of the individual primary study.…”

Section: Study Quality Assessment and Data Reportingmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Meta-synthesis of qualitative studies and systematic qualitative reviews have previously contributed to an understanding of parent's perspectives on infant and child dietary patterns unique to low-and middle-income countries [16][17][18]. Feeding experiences of migrant and refugee women in Australia have been assessed by qualitative synthesis of publications through 2014 [19], and men's views, perceptions, and experiences with infant feeding have been recently summarized [20,21].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Hidden Realities of Infant Feeding: Systematic Review of Qualitative Findings from Parents

Dattilo

Carvalho

Feferbaum

et al. 2020

Behavioral Sciences

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A growing, global conversation, regarding realities and challenges that parents experience today is ever-present. To understand recent parent’s attitudes, beliefs, and perceptions regarding infant feeding, we sought to systematically identify and synthesize original qualitative research findings. Following the Enhancing Transparency in Reporting the Synthesis of Qualitative Research (ENTREQ) framework, electronic databases were searched with a priori terms applied to title/abstract fields and limited to studies published in English from 2015 to 2019, inclusive. Study quality assessment was conducted using the Critical Appraisal Skills Programme (CASP) checklist, and thematic analyses performed. Of 73 studies meeting inclusion criteria, four major themes emerged. (1) Breastfeeding is best for an infant; (2) Distinct attitudes, beliefs, and perceptions of mothers that breastfeed, and those that could not or chose not to breastfeed, are evident; (3) Infant feeding behaviors are influenced by the socio-cultural environment of the family, and (4) Parent’s expectations of education and support addressing personal infant feeding choices from health care providers are not always met. This systematic review, guided by constructs within behavioral models and theories, provides updated findings to help inform the development of nutrition education curricula and public policy programs. Results can be applied within scale-up nutrition and behavioral education interventions that support parents during infant feeding.

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How natural is the supernatural? Synthesis of the qualitative literature from low and middle income countries on cultural practices and traditional beliefs influencing the perinatal period

Cited by 33 publications

References 87 publications

Migrant Burmese women living in southern Thailand and motherhood: An ethnographic study

Migrant Burmese women living in southern Thailand and motherhood: An ethnographic study

Interpersonal communication regarding pregnancy-related services: friends versus health professionals as conduits for information

Hidden Realities of Infant Feeding: Systematic Review of Qualitative Findings from Parents

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