Learning strengths from cultural differences: a comparative study of maternal health-related behaviors and infant care among Southern Asian immigrants and Taiwanese women

Yen-Ching Chen,Shu-Hui Wei,Mei-Yen Chen,Kuo-Wei Yeh

doi:10.1186/1472-698x-13-5

Abstract

BackgroundMany studies have indicated that most immigrant women come from underdeveloped countries, and this can have negative effects on their lives, children’s adaptation to school, and medical care utilization. However, there is insufficient literature about differences in infant caretaking, pre-postpartum health care, and health outcome between immigrant and native Taiwanese populations. The aim of this study was to investigate the differences between Southern Asia immigrants and Taiwanese women in their access to medical care, postnatal growth, and infant care throughout the first six months postpartum.MethodsComparative and descriptive designs were applied. Immigrant women were eligible if they visited three suburban settings of the Outpatient Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the Outpatient Department of Pediatrics in Northern Taiwan during the period up to six months postpartum.ResultsImmigrant women appeared to have a lower frequency of antenatal examinations and obtained less health information from health care providers. However, they did not differ significantly from native Taiwanese women in maternal body size, postnatal growth curves, exclusive breastfeeding rates or vaccination awareness at the 6th month postpartum.ConclusionsLearning strengths from cultural differences between immigrant and native women and closing the gaps in health inequality are important issues. Despite the limitation of small sample size, the present findings can be used as references to help health care providers to develop further health policies in Taiwan.

Highlights

Many studies have indicated that most immigrant women come from underdeveloped countries, and this can have negative effects on their lives, children’s adaptation to school, and medical care utilization
Many studies have indicated that most immigrant women come from underdeveloped countries with backward economic conditions, so they are disadvantaged by race, social class and gender
The average age of the immigrants was 28.3 years (SD=4.2), and more than half of them came from mainland China (Table 1)

Summary

Introduction

Many studies have indicated that most immigrant women come from underdeveloped countries, and this can have negative effects on their lives, children’s adaptation to school, and medical care utilization. There is insufficient literature about differences in infant caretaking, pre-postpartum health care, and health outcome between immigrant and native Taiwanese populations. There is still insufficient literature about differences in infant caretaking, prepartum/postpartum health care, and health outcome between the immigrant and native Taiwanese populations. According to the Ministry of the Interior in Taiwan, up to the end of 2010 more than 386,000 families in Taiwan included a foreign or mainland Chinese spouse. Many studies have indicated that most immigrant women come from underdeveloped countries with backward economic conditions, so they are disadvantaged by race, social class and gender These disadvantages can have negative effects on their lives, children’s adaptation to school, and medical care utilization [3,4,5]

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