Socio-cultural beliefs and practices during pregnancy, child birth, and postnatal period: A qualitative study in Southern Ghana

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Despite investments in interventions to reduce maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality, progress has been slow, especially in developing countries. Socio-cultural beliefs in communities often lead to the adoption of certain practices during pregnancy, childbirth, and postnatal period. Therefore, this study was conducted to identify these beliefs and practices and how they affect maternal and child health care services. Purposive sampling was used to select focus group discussion participants (13) among community members, pregnant women whose gestation was at least 6 months, and women with babies less than 6 months of age. In addition, 22 in-depth interviews were conducted among health workers at district, subdistrict, and community levels. All interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed verbatim. With the aid of NVivo 11, the data was analysed thematically. The study’s findings showed that socio-cultural beliefs and practices are widespread covering antenatal through childbirth to the postnatal period. Both harmful and harmless practices were identified. Protecting pregnancy from evil forces resulted in the practice of confinement and consequently late initiation of antenatal care. The use of herbal preparations to augment labour was reported and this practice favoured home delivery and use of Traditional Birth Attendant. The study concludes that socio-cultural beliefs are common and transcend the entire peripartum period. Some of these social practices tend to affect utilisation of some essential maternal and child health practices. However, accepting harmless social practices during labour will improve trust and cater for community’s worldview about childbirth and foster skilled delivery.