Author Identifier
Diana Arabiat
ORCID : 0000-0003-2325-0398
Lisa Whitehead
ORCID : 0000-0002-6395-0279
Document Type
Journal Article
Publication Title
Global Qualitative Nursing Research
Volume
9
Publisher
SAGE
School
School of Nursing and Midwifery
RAS ID
36616
Funders
Edith Cowan University - Open Access Support Scheme 2021
University of Jordan, Amman
Arak University of Medical Sciences, Iran
Abstract
The prevalence of self-prescribed complementary medicine (CM) use is an area of concern across the Middle East. We conducted a descriptive qualitative study to describe women’s use of CM during their childbearing years in Egypt, Jordan, Saudi Arabia and Iran. The study conducted using face to face audio-recorded interviews with 70 participants. Our findings showed that women used several herbal plants to ease pain and discomfort during menstruation and/or during pregnancy and in postpartum care. Acupuncture, meditation, and massage were less likely to be used by women. The impact of CM was often described in relation to perceived usefulness and safety of herbs. Cultural beliefs and roles of women contributed to the use of herbs among women. Given the high use of herbal medicine, there is a need for discussion about the potential of adverse effects of some plants or their metabolites following self-medication during the childbearing years.
DOI
10.1177/23333936211042616
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 License
Comments
Arabiat, D., Whitehead, L., Gaballah, S., Nejat, N., Galal, E., Sabah, E. A., . . . Khlaif, R. (2022). The use of complementary medicine during childbearing years: A multi-country study of women from the Middle East. Global Qualitative Nursing Research, 9, p. 1-11.
https://doi.org/10.1177/23333936211042616