Health beliefs of pregnant and postpartum Hmong women

Medicinal plants used in Hmong women's healthcare in northern Thailand

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

We studied traditional knowledge of medicinal plants used for women's healthcare in three Hmong villages in northern Thailand and determined how prevalent such knowledge is. We documented traditional medical practices and determined which of the species used are culturally important among the Hmong.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

We interviewed six key informants and 147 non-specialist informants about their traditional knowledge of medicinal plants used in Hmong women's healthcare. We selected nine species that were known in all three villages as the domain for questionnaire interviews with 181 additional and randomly selected non-specialist informants. We calculated the Cultural Importance index (CI) for each species and use category. We tested normality of the data, age correlations, and gender correlations with Kolmogorov-Smirnov tests, Spearman's rank correlation coefficient, Kruskal-Wallis test, and Mann-Whitney tests.

RESULTS

We documented traditional knowledge of 79 medicinal plants used in women's healthcare. Of these, three species were culturally important to the Hmong. Our questionnaire interviews revealed significant difference in traditional medicinal plant knowledge between genders and age groups.

CONCLUSIONS

The Hmong people in northern Thailand possess large amounts of traditional knowledge related to women's healthcare and plants used for this purpose. However, this knowledge, even for the culturally important species, is not possessed by all Hmong and there were signs of knowledge erosion. Preservation of the Hmong intellectual heritage related to medicinal plants used in women's healthcare requires intensive traditional knowledge dissemination to the young Hmong generation.

Determinants of psychological well-being in Irish immigrants

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Hmong women and postpartum depression

Evidence of postpartum depression in Western culture has been widely documented in the literature. The conclusion reached by many researchers is that women are vulnerable to depression following childbirth to some extent. It has been suggested that postpartum depression is a culture-bound syndrome that develops because of lack of supportive rites and rituals surrounding childbirth. The present study was undertaken to explore postpartum depression in Hmong women living in the U.S. and the influence of cultural practices on postpartum depression. The results indicate that cultural beliefs and practices help the Hmong women adjust to the postpartum period. Whatever symptoms of depression they reported were related to living in a different culture and different environment, and using a language to which they were not accustomed.

Hmong women in Wisconsin: what are their concerns in pregnancy and childbirth?

Childbirth in different cultures is treated as a traumatic life crisis and a time of vulnerability for the mother and infant. This qualitative descriptive study explored specific concerns related to pregnancy and childbirth in 52 Hmong women living in central and northeastern Wisconsin. Women were questioned using a semistructured interview about 4.6 months after childbirth. They described concerns related to breastfeeding, contraception, touch, communication with health caregivers, and procedures performed during childbirth. Women preferred bottle-feeding over breastfeeding. They reported difficulty practicing birth control because of cultural expectations of male and female roles, but were aware of the need for education about methods of contraception. Fear of miscarriage if they were touched by doctors and nurses resulted in delayed prenatal visits. The women believed that invasive procedures such as episiotomies and circumcisions are not natural, and they preferred natural tearing and healing. It is important for health caregivers to be culturally sensitive and understanding of Hmong practices and beliefs when touching and communicating with these women and when educating them about breastfeeding, contraception, and medical procedures during hospitalization.

Hmong cultural practices and beliefs: the postpartum period

The purpose of this study was to explore the cultural practices and beliefs of the Hmong in the postpartum period. Using the qualitative research method of in-depth interviewing, data were collected through semistructured interviews. A convenience sample of 52 childbearing Hmong women was interviewed with the help of Hmong interpreters. The interviews were audiotaped and transcribed for analysis. Data analysis revealed cultural practices and beliefs categories related to diet, rest period, appropriate clothing, breast feeding, and sex practices in the postpartum period. Implications for nursing include both cultural sensitivity and an understanding of such traditional practices, before suggesting or implementing any health-promotion activities.

A review of the health status of Southeast Asian refugee women

Six substantive areas that contribute to knowledge of the health status of Southeast Asian (SEA) refugee women were identified in the current literature. The six areas are general information, childbearing issues, health beliefs and practices, health-illness focus, stress and adaptation, and miscellaneous issues. The majority of the articles focused on the women's childbearing role, emphasizing their unique cultural beliefs and the implications of those for health care delivery. The remaining substantive areas provided more limited information about this group's health status, including incidence and prevalence of disease, the women's role in resettlement, and the presence of mental health problems. Future research with this group could be conducted from a feminist perspective by studying the multitude of roles of SEA refugee women and their effects on health status.