Childbearing research: a transcultural review

This article provides an examination of the keynote and current literature concerning traditional beliefs and practices pertinent to childbearing. Toward this aim, investigations implemented in western and non-western societies spanning 35 years are discussed. Each study is summarized in a table indicating the characteristics of the population, the methodology and the results. The key issues identified for study in developing countries are: poverty, illiteracy, malnutrition, prostitution, substance abuse, family disruption, lack of child care, high rates of maternal and infant mortality and the patterns of utilization of health services. Industrialized societies are faced with different problems: isolation of the nuclear family, economic pressure for mothers to work, deficiency of child care facilities, ambiguity in the definition of parental roles, marital instability and impersonal, medicalized health care. These reported results provide the basis for culturally-sensitive suggestions to improve social welfare schemes, health prevention and treatment programs. Dominant themes and changing trends in research content and methodology have been drawn from this literature review. These trends indicate that future investigations will: (a) focus upon populations-at-risk; (b) involve large representative samples; (c) address prominant social and health problems; (d) challenge currently held assumptions; (e) and use interdisciplinary methods, ethnographic, epidemiologic and intervention approaches in concert to produce vital and culturally-informed data for research development, policy decisions and program implementation.