Research Journal of Medical Sciences
ISSN: Online 1993-6095ISSN: Print 1815-9346
Abstract
Several babies delivered at home have limited access to contemporary medical care. They are primarily raised using cultural and traditional practices. Relatively little is known about the impact of customary neonatal care practises on newborn survival. All communities have ideas and practises about pregnancy, childbirth and child care. These beliefs and practises are crucial to children’s health. This knowledge‐attitudepractice (KAP) study was undertaken to assess the various harmless, harmful and welcoming practices prevailing among the new mothers and their families with the help of a structured dichotomous questionnaire. Prior to the main research a pilot study was conducted and necessary changes were made in the methodology. All the new‐borns with age 28 days or less were included in the study and their mothers were interviewed. Significant association (p<0.05) was found between maternal age, maternal education, family’s income, family structure, religion and certain cultural beliefs and practices pertaining among them. Some of the rituals performed by the mothers are beneficial and must be encouraged, some are damaging and need to be discouraged while some are harmless to the babies, which should be simply disregarded. While medical science has advanced in many ways in the twenty‐first century and the government has created a number of successful health programmes, traditional cultural child care practises still prevail in Odisha and across the nation. The fundamental causes and underlying ideas behind traditional child care practices that have detrimental impacts on the health of the mother and the unborn child must first be uncovered in order to reform these practices.
How to cite this article:
Gobinda Hembram, Jatadhari Mahar, Satyaranjan Mallick and Sumanta Panigrahi. Traditional Cultural Practises and Beliefs in Odisha and their Effects on Neonatal Care.
DOI: https://doi.org/10.36478/10.59218/makrjms.2023.12.368.373
URL: https://www.makhillpublications.co/view-article/1815-9346/10.59218/makrjms.2023.12.368.373