Religion and Spirituality in Pregnancy and Birth: The Views of Birth Practitioners in Southeast Nigeria

Magdalena Ohaja,Margaret Dunlea,Jo Murphy-Lawless

doi:10.3390/rel10020082

Abstract

Religion and spirituality have been acknowledged as crucial aspects of health and wellbeing. Nigeria, the most populous African country, is a multi-religious society where plural health systems (traditional and modern) co-exist. Religion is part of everyday conversation within the country and traditional healthcare providers are believed to have spiritual healing powers. Correspondingly, Nigerian women in their quest for a meaningful and comprehensive maternity care experience continue to use the plural health systems during the pregnancy birth continuum. Drawing from data collected through interviewing midwives (n = 7) and traditional birth attendants (n = 5), this paper explored the place of religion and spirituality within maternity care in the context of Igbo-Nigeria, through the lens of hermeneutic-phenomenology. Ethical approval was granted by relevant institutions and consent was obtained from each participant prior to the interviews. The findings revealed divergent views of the birth practitioners, influenced on one hand by conventional Western scientific ways of thinking, and on the other hand by traditional/cultural orientation. Healthcare professionals’ views on the place of religion and spirituality within maternity care in Igbo-Nigeria reflect societal norms, impacting either positively or negatively on women’s needs for a meaningful maternity care experience. In order to improve women’s satisfaction with their pregnancy and birth experience, it is important for the healthcare providers to pay attention to and reflect on their own religious and spiritual belief systems.

Highlights

Nigeria, the most populous African country, is a religiously pluralised society with Christians found predominantly in the south, while the Muslims occupy most of the northern part of the country (Sampson 2014; Yesufu 2016)
This paper presents the views of professional midwives and traditional birth attendants about religion and spirituality during pregnancy and birthing in the context of southeast Nigeria
The findings of this study revealed that despite the move to scientific-oriented maternity care, birth practitioners in southern Nigeria rely on God as the ultimate care provider

Summary

Introduction

The most populous African country, is a religiously pluralised society with Christians found predominantly in the south, while the Muslims occupy most of the northern part of the country (Sampson 2014; Yesufu 2016). 307) contends that the Igbo people have a religious conception of the world, one that has ‘two planes; the physical and the spiritual.’. For the Igbo people, the body, mind and spirit are connected, and this conception has its foundation in Igbo traditional religion, which involves communion between the physical and ancestral spirits (Iroegbu 2010; Ndubisi and Ogbuishi 2015). Traditional healthcare practices are shaped by beliefs in ancestral beings. In the words of (Sampson 2014, p. 316),

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Conclusion