Cultural practices for the care of indigenous pregnant women of the Zenu Reserve Cordoba, Colombia

Abstract

Objective: Describe t he culture care practices of pregnant indigenous women that live in the Zenu reserve located in the savannah of Cordoba, Colombia. Materials and methods: qualitative, ethnographic focus supported by the ideas of Colliere and Leininger. 10 pregnant indigenous women were interviewed, until reaching theoretical saturation. The cultural knowledge and taxonomic analysis allowed to perform a composed analysis in which the following subjects were compared, classified and grouped: Being pregnant for the Zenu women; taking care of themselves during pregnancy: a guarantee for the unborn child; the coldness and its consequences, the midwife as a control and care character of the Zenu woman during pregnancy and birth. Result: The Zenu woman begins prenatal care, as soon as she identifies her pregnancy, through some proper pregnancy characteristics that are accurate for them. Once the pregnancy is identified, a series of care practices begin, including eating well, avoiding heavy duties, caressing the belly with the midwife, bathing early to avoid coldness and avoiding sexual relationships to prevent malformations. Conclusion: The Zenu woman has its own pregnancy care practices and ways of protecting the unborn child, besides trusting the care and attention brought by the midwifes. The nursing care offered to these women must be done based on the transcultural knowledge proposed by Leininger.