Maternal Health Coping Strategies of Migrant Women in Norway

Abstract

The aim of the study was to explore the maternal health coping strategies of migrant women in Norway. The ethnic and cultural background of the Norwegian population have become increasingly diverse. A challenge in practice is to adjust maternal health services to migrant women's specific needs. Previous studies have revealed that migrant women have difficulty achieving safe pregnancies and childbirths. Data were obtained by means of 17 semistructured interviews with women from South America, Europe, the Middle East, Asia, and Africa. Qualitative content analysis was employed. One overall theme is as follows: keeping original traditions while at the same time being willing to integrate into Norwegian society, and four themes emerged as follows: balancing their sense of belongingness; seeking information and support from healthcare professionals; being open to new opportunities and focusing on feeling safe in the new country. The results were interpreted in the light of Bronfenbrenner's ecological model. To provide quality care, healthcare professionals should focus on the development of migrant women's capabilities. Adaptation of maternal health services for culturally diverse migrant women also requires a culturally sensitive approach on the part of healthcare professionals.

Migrant women’s experiences of pregnancy, childbirth and maternity care in European countries: A systematic review

“…(Robertson 2015, pp.62) [75] We don't understand each other. Women highlighted that information, advice and the opportunity to discuss their health and the health of their unborn child with a HCP was extremely important to them [63,74,78]. However, they identified a range of issues related to communication and understanding which are discussed in the sub-themes; Overcoming language barriers, Unmet information needs and Different expectations of care.…”

“…Women identified a lack of information around pregnancy, childbirth or the postpartum period, and a lack of information that was available in an accessible language or format [8,35,37,[46][47][48][49][50]52,58,64,66,[70][71][72][75][76][77][78][79][81][82][83]. Professional advice often conflicted with cultural and family advice [41,46,49,54,63,[77][78][79] and this left women feeling insecure about which actions to take [46, 63,77].…”

“…(Tobin et al 2014, pp.836) [60] Women's cultural backgrounds influenced some of their preferences [39, 56,60,71] and beliefs about procedures [49,55,67,70,71,81] and the way they wanted to discuss these [56,74]. Experiences in their country of origin influenced their expectation of the need for medical surveillance and interventions during pregnancy and childbirth [8,42,43,63,80,81].…”

“…The HCPs attitude was an important factor in how migrant women perceived the quality of care. Some women found HCPs to be unfriendly [67,74] and disrespectful [63,81], failing to respond to their concerns in a caring matter, ignoring them [74,75] and not taking their complaints seriously [49,52,66,74,75]. This made women doubt their own capabilities [75].…”

“…Women also appreciated HCPs who demonstrated cultural sensitivity, although this did not necessarily require an in-depth knowledge of individual customs and traditions [48,78]. (Briscoe & Lavender 2009, pp.20) [70] Good care encompassed a trusting relationship between women and HCPs, which empowered women to feel confident and prepared for childbirth [63,75,78], even overcoming a lack of social networks or support [75].…”