Women's motivation, perception and experience of complementary and alternative medicine in pregnancy: A meta-synthesis

Abstract

these findings are important to practitioners, policy makers, governing bodies and researchers, providing insight into the motivations for Complementary and Alternative Medicine use by women in pregnancy.

Women’s health literacy and the complex decision‐making process to use complementary medicine products in pregnancy and lactation

“…CMP use in pregnancy or breastfeeding is also associated with biomedical or CAM health‐care practitioner prescription or recommendation . A positive relationship with their CAM practitioners has been linked to pregnant or breastfeeding women's use of CAM . Women appreciate CAM practitioners’ holistic approaches to health, including consideration of mental‐emotional, physical, social and spiritual health .…”

“…14,20 Previous research has established that women in high-income economies use complementary medicines during pregnancy and breastfeeding for several reasons. These include the desire for self-determination and choice in health-care decisions, 21,22 including the desire for natural childbirth, 23 to prepare for labour, 24,25 treat common conditions of pregnancy, 9,18,[24][25][26][27] and promote their own and their babies' health and well-being. 8,24,25 During breastfeeding specifically, herbal galactagogues are used to correct perceived or diagnosed breastmilk insufficiency, and other herbs are used to support post-partum health and recovery after birth or to treat common conditions like mastitis or upper respiratory tract infections.…”

“…9,12 A positive relationship with their CAM practitioners has been linked to pregnant or breastfeeding women's use of CAM. 21,28 Women appreciate CAM practitioners' holistic approaches to health, including consideration of mentalemotional, physical, social and spiritual health. 31,32 They prefer CAM practitioners who facilitate and encourage self-empowerment and autonomy in health care and demonstrate positive patient-provider communication.…”

“…31,32 They prefer CAM practitioners who facilitate and encourage self-empowerment and autonomy in health care and demonstrate positive patient-provider communication. 21,31,33,34 Self-prescription of complementary medicine products (CMPs) is common 7,13,17,[35][36][37] with some women perceiving CMPs to be safer to use in pregnancy and lactation than pharmaceutical medications. 28,[38][39][40] Women also often take vitamin and mineral supplements due to the belief that supplementation will ensure they meet the additional nutritional requirements of pregnancy and lactation.…”

A systematic review of the dimensions of transit-oriented urban planning and design = Una revisión sistemática de categorías para la evaluación de la planificación y el diseño urbano orientado al transporte público

“…By a secondary analysis, this method structures a basis for future investigation and helps in understanding the progress of a discipline (Thorne & Paterson, 1998). Furthermore, it can be formed based on a new research question or technique which involves breaking down the results of other qualitative studies on a specific subject, examining their features, and finally, combining their results into an integrated body (Moeller, Copes, & Hochstetler, 2016;Bowman et al, 2018).…”