Table 3 Families' beliefs and practices compared with Western health model
Traditional model-beliefs and practice | Western health model: effects of reported behaviour on health, and basis for this judgement | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|
Themes | Beliefs | What is reported to be actually happening | Effects of actual behaviour on health | Explanation of these effects |
Dietary precautions | Eating more food | All consumed more food than usual. | Beneficial [23] | Provides adequate nutrients for lactation. |
| Â | Eating hot food (protein rich) | All consumed these foods. | Beneficial[21,22,23] | Provides adequate nutrients for lactation. Provides nutrients that promote healing of tears and incisions. |
| Â | Avoiding cold food (fruit and vegetables) | All ate vegetables, but less amount and fewer kinds. | No obvious health effects | If very restricted, could cause constipation. However, women did not report constipation as a problem. |
Hygiene | No bathing or washing hair | Rural: Most bathed. Urban: Most used dry or damp towel to clean skin. Half washed hair. | No obvious health effects | Â |
| Â | Vulval and perineal hygiene is important | All did daily vulval and perineal hygiene. | Beneficial [24,25] | Promotes healing of tears and incisions, prevents infections. |
| Â | No brushing teeth. | Most did not practice pre-birth dental hygiene habits. | Harmful [31,32] | Allows a build up of plaque and bacteria that can cause teeth decay. |
Behavioural precautions | Staying inside the home | All stayed in their homes. | No obvious health effects | Â |
| Â | Avoiding housework | Most did no housework. | Beneficial | Allows time to recover from childbirth and focus on caring for the baby. |
| Â | Resting in bed. | Women walked around room or home. Few did other exercises. | No obvious health effects | With complete bed rest, deep vein thrombosis is a risk but no women reported this. |
| Â | Abstaining from sex | All followed this restriction. | No obvious health effects | Allows time for the reproductive tract tissues to recover and heal. |
| Â | Limiting visitors | Most families had fewer visitors. | No obvious health effects | Â |
Infant feeding | Breastfeeding is best | All breastfed, but only two exclusively. Most gave supplements in first 3 days and continued for whole period. | Harmful [37-40] | Interferes with milk production and breastfeeding technique, possible source of infection. |
| Â | Giving honeysuckle for skin rash | Rural: infrequently. Urban: common. | Unknown | Â |