CoChat
Sign Up
Cited by 311Global Maternal and Child HealthMaternal and Perinatal Health InterventionsHistorical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes

The DOI matches its Crossref record; 121 of the 123 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.

Traditional beliefs and practices in pregnancy, childbirth and postpartum: A review of the evidence from Asian countries

Withers, Mellissa, Kharazmi, Nina, Lim, Esther·2018·Midwifery
DOI 10.1016/j.midw.2017.10.019
Open this paper in CoChat — free account

Abstract

Introduction Asian women suffer the largest proportion of the world's maternal deaths. To reduce this, policymakers and healthcare providers must encourage women with traditionally low rates of maternal health care utilization to access services. Objective The purpose of this study is to provide a comprehensive review of the most common traditional practices in Asia relating to pregnancy, childbirth and the postpartum period. Design We conducted a literature search of articles: a) focusing on Asia; b) relating to pregnancy, childbirth or postpartum, c) relating to traditional beliefs and/or cultural practices; and 4) published in English in the year 2000 or more recently. Findings A total of 74 articles are included in this review; 20 articles related to pregnancy, 44 to childbirth, and 45 to postpartum. More than one-half (38) of the articles focused on South Asia and 13 related to China. In the pregnancy category, the majority of the studies focused on dietary recommendations and behavioral taboos. For the childbirth category, many articles examined beliefs and practices that helped to explain women's aversion to institutional births, such as preference for traditional birth positions, and fear of medical interventions. In the postpartum period, confinement was common because postpartum women were perceived to be weak, fragile and vulnerable to illness. Other prevalent beliefs and practices across Asian countries included massage, the state of pollution after childbirth, the use of traditional healers and traditional medicine and herbs, beliefs relating to hot/cold imbalance, behavioral taboos, magic, and superstition. Key conclusions Many Asian women continue to practice a wide range of traditional beliefs and practices during pregnancy, childbirth, and the postpartum period. 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. By recognizing and appreciating common local beliefs, providers can be better positioned to provide culturally competent care. Instead of reducing the choices available to women during the birth experience, providers should understand, respect, and integrate cultural interpretations of childbirth and the needs of women and their families.

Overview

Integrity signals

Registry

Crossref · 10.1016/j.midw.2017.10.019

Cites

121 of 121 references verified0 citation errors · 0 not checkable

Statistics

Recomputing p-values needs the paper’s full text.

Verification

Claims the paper makes

This paper’s full text isn’t openly available, so its claims and self-check weren’t run. The registry and citation checks still apply.

Claims other papers make about this one

Each is checked against this paper’s own text: does it say what the citing paper says it does?

Citations

Cites

Show all 123 references

Research works printed but not linked: 3

  1. Barnes, 2007, Women's Experience of Childbirth in Rural Jharkhand, Economic and Political Weekly, 42, 62
  2. Haq, 2008, Place of Childbirth and Infant Mortality in India: a Cultural Interpretation, Indian Anthropologist, 38, 17
  3. Lundberg, 2010, Vietnamese Women's Cultural Beliefs and Practices Related to the Postpartum Period, Midwifery, 5, 731

Cited by

Sorted by citations

Related

See all

Metadata

Authors
Withers, M., Kharazmi, N., & Lim, E.
Affiliations
University of Southern California (US)
Corresponding author
Withers, Mellissa
ORCID
Venue
Midwifery
Publisher
Elsevier BV
Published
2018-01
Volume
56
Pages
158-170
ISSN
0266-6138 (ISSN-L)
DOI
10.1016/j.midw.2017.10.019
OpenAlex
W2766690992
Cited by
311
References
123
Citations by year
2026: 31 · 2025: 56 · 2024: 47 · 2023: 43 · 2022: 40 · 2021: 33 · 2020: 32 · 2019: 23 · 2018: 5
FWCI
3.11
Type
journal article
Language
en
Open access
closed
Licence
Locations
  • Midwifery (publishedVersion)
  • PubMed (publishedVersion)
Topics
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Pediatrics, Perinatology and Child Health › Global Maternal and Child Health
  • Health Sciences › Medicine › Obstetrics and Gynecology › Maternal and Perinatal Health Interventions
  • Social Sciences › Arts and Humanities › History › Historical Studies on Reproduction, Gender, Health, and Societal Changes
Keywords
traditional beliefs, cultural practices, pregnancy, childbirth, postpartum period, maternal health, maternal mortality, postpartum confinement, traditional healers, traditional medicine, food taboos, cultural competence, South Asia, China
MeSH terms
Adult, Asia, Female, Humans, Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice, Maternal Health Services, Medicine, East Asian Traditional, Pregnancy, Delivery, Obstetric

About these checks

Registry, retraction, Cites and statistics results are computed, not judged, with one exception: a printed reference that no index lists is read once by a model before it counts as a citation error. Claims are extracted by a model and kept only when their quote appears verbatim in the text; each cited source is then checked, with a model’s help, for whether it says what the claim relies on. Those verdicts can be wrong — read the claim’s quote and the cited source before relying on one.

Statistics and arithmetic are recomputed, not judged.

Confidence bands are shown only for fields calibrated on our annotated test set. None is calibrated yet, so no band is shown.

What counts as a claim ›How we measure confidence ›How we check this ›

Are you an author, or do you see a problem with this page? Request a review