Determination of the use of traditional practices to ease labour among Turkish women

R E S E A R C H P A P E R

Determination of the use of traditional practicesto ease labour among Turkish women

Duygu Yılmaz, MSN PhDAssistant Professor, Department of Nursing, Mersin University School of Health, Mersin, Turkey

Sezer Kısa MSN PhDAssistant Professor, Department of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, Gazi University, Ankara, Turkey

Simge Zeyneloglu MSN PhDAssistant Professor, Department of Nursing, Faculty of Health Sciences, Gaziantep University, Gaziantep, Turkey

Tuba Güner MSNInstructor, Department of Nursing, Mersin University School of Health, Mersin, Turkey

Accepted for publication May 2012

Yılmaz D, Kısa S, Zeyneloglu S, Güner T. International Journal of Nursing Practice 2013; 19: 65–73Determination of the use of traditional practices to ease labour among Turkish women

The purpose of this study was to determine the use of traditional practices to ease labour among Turkish women.Face-to-face interviews were conducted with 809 women by using an investigator-designed questionnaire. The mean ageof the women was 28.9 � 8.33 years (min = 15, max = 74), 49.4% were between 20–29 years of age and more than half(56.2%) of the women had had one to two pregnancies. The results showed that traditional practices were known andapplied mostly by the women who were at an advanced age, less educated and who lived in rural areas. In addition, theknowledge and application status of traditional practices related to religious beliefs were found to be very high comparedwith superstitious practices. It was suggested that nurses provide culturally competent care that requires a commitmentby the individual nurse to develop, refine and use specific skills in the care of women.

Key words: labour, traditional practices, Turkish, women.

INTRODUCTIONTradition represents the sum total of all behavioursthat are learned, shared by a group of people and trans-mitted from generation to generation. All societieshave some practices that are deeply rooted in traditionacross the generations and that reflect their values,culture and beliefs.1,2 Tradition includes language,

religion, types of food eaten and methods of their pre-paration, child rearing practices and all other values thathold people together and give them a sense of identitydistinguishing them from other groups. Traditionalapproaches to health care are based on a culturallyunique perception of the nature of illness and of thehealing process. Often these perspectives recognize thepsychological, environmental and social contributions todisease and the active involvement of the patient in thetreatment process and places emphasis on preventionand on lifestyles that lessen the probability of developingdisease.

Correspondence: Sezer Kısa, Department of Nursing, Faculty of HealthSciences, Gazi University, Besevler, Ankara 06500, Turkey. E-mail:[email protected]

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International Journal of Nursing Practice 2013; 19: 65–73

doi:10.1111/ijn.12025 © 2013 Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd

In recent years, there has been increasing recognitionof the importance that women’s expectations of effectivestrategies to maintain and promote health are affected bytraditional and cultural practices.3,4 Culture plays a largerole in the pregnancy, childbirth and newborn care ofmany women in different countries.5 The studies reportedthat the majority of traditional practices during the birthof a child consist of applications to ease labour for preg-nant women. Some applications were reported as harmfulpractices such as shaking the woman during the labour,having the woman skip from a high place,6 having thewoman turn upside down and shaking the woman byholding her arms6 in order to separate the child from theuterus. Reported unharmful practices were the woman’sback being massaged by another woman who has givenbirth relatively easily,6–8 eating dates,6 walking duringpregnancy,6,8–10 eating kuymak (a food made of starch,butter and sugar),6 untying knots, making a seriouspromise to God to do something, putting the Koran (holybook of Muslims) over one’s head, praying,6 tying whitecotton cloth around the pregnant woman’s waist for herto have easy labour8–10 and wearing a special type ofamulet called a valai or valayal to create a protectivebarrier that keeps the mother and newborn safe from evilspirits.6

Traditional and cultural practices vary from region toregion, family to family and person to person, but they arestill of great importance not only in the developing worldbut also in developed countries. For example, birth is partof a holistic and personal system, involving moral values,social relations and a connection relationship to the envi-ronment, as well as the physical aspects in traditionalnon-Western countries.11 Birth ceremonies are often pre-pared to recognize the importance of the birth event in theculture because of symbolization of a new baby’s entryinto the family and community, and mothers receive spe-cially prepared foods and gifts as an expression of reward.In contrast, although women’s status has been consideredrelatively higher in Western cultures, gifts and celebra-tions are centred around the newborn rather than themother, such as baby showers in the United States, chris-tenings and are composed of multiple visits from friendsand relatives to see the baby. In addition, Western coun-tries have many cultures from many countries due toimmigration from developing countries.11 Thus, immi-grant childbearing women in many Western countriesadapted their home country childbirth-related traditionsto modern life, with cultural beliefs and practices.

The population and cultural structure is heterogeneousin Turkey. People living in big cities lead a lifestyle similarto that in the Western world, whereas people living inrural areas are more religious and conservative, havestrong family bonds and continue to uphold the develop-ment of cultural values and aims.6 In Turkey, prenatal careis provided by state hospitals, health centres, family prac-titioners, private and university hospitals, as well asthrough home visits by midwives in rural areas. Birthsoccur in health facilities in the cities. A woman is admittedto hospital alone for labour and delivery; family membersare not allowed to accompany the woman in labour or tovisit her in the labour room. In some education hospitals,antenatal education is offered, but this is often restrictedto hygienic practices and nutrition for women. Issuesmentioned previously show that women are not preparedfor their labour and delivery in Turkey compared to theWestern world.10 In rural areas of the southeastern andeast parts of Turkey, births still occur at home with thehelp of the village midwives or experienced older women.According to the latest National Demographic HealthSurvey (Turkish Demographic Health Survey (TDHS))conducted in Turkey, an estimated one out of five births(20%) take place at home assisted by a traditional midwifeor relatives.12

Holistic nursing requires an approach that recognizesthe individual’s characteristics, not just the standardnotion of care, but also knowing the cultural beliefs andconception of health.13 Understanding the culturalbeliefs and practices during the labour and deliveryperiod is important to assist providers in the provision ofculturally appropriate and effective care and counsel-ling3,13,14 There are very few studies concerning tradi-tional practices to ease labour and delivery used bywomen in Turkey.6,15 According to Kanwar and Sharma,there is an urgent need to record the traditional knowl-edge among the diverse ethnic communities before thetraditional culture is completely lost.16 The currentstudy seeks to fill the gap in the literature by acknowl-edging the traditional and cultural practices unique toTurkey that might affect women’s health during labourand delivery particularly with immigrants delivering inother countries.

The purpose of this study is to describe the traditionalpractices to ease labour and delivery. The main researchquestion of this study is: What are the traditional practicesto ease labour and delivery in Turkey? The specific ques-tions are:

66 D Yılmaz et al.

© 2013 Wiley Publishing Asia Pty Ltd

1. What kinds of traditional practices did women use toease labour during the pregnancy of their previouschildren?

2. What are the demographic characteristics of womenwho use traditional practices to ease labour anddelivery?

METHODSA descriptive and cross-sectional research design was usedto examine the traditional practices of Turkish women toease labour.

Study sampleA convenience sample of 1000 women aged 15 years andolder was recruited from the obstetric and gynaecologicalclinics of Mersin State Hospital, in Turkey between Mayand September 2011. Mersin State Hospital is the region’slargest government hospital. The inclusion criteria werewomen who had had at least one pregnancy in their lives.Of the 1000 participants approached, 809 women fullyresponded to the self-administered questionnaire onselected weekdays, leading to a response rate of 81.2%.One hundred eleven women refused to participate inthe study and 80 women interviewed were excluded fromthe study because of missing data related to traditionalpractices.

Data collectionThe data were collected by using a questionnaire preparedin line with the information collected from the relevantliterature.6,15,17 The data collection tool consists of socio-demographic information of the participants such as age,occupation, educational level, marital status, the age atmarriage and a list of statements such as ‘passing underHoly Qur’an’, ‘praying in the name of God’, ‘drinkingZamzam water (Holy water)’, ‘attaching amulets’, ‘leavethe tap water running’, ‘skipping in front of thedoorway’, ‘loosing the woman’s braided hair’, ‘openingthe lock’, ‘sharpening the knives’ and ‘throwing foragesto birds’. Women were asked to identify statements as towhether they ‘know’ or ‘don’t know’ or they ‘apply’ or‘do not apply’ these practices so as to obtain women’sknowledge and application status regarding traditionalpractices. For the development of the data collectioninstrument, traditional practices were chosen among themost common known practices to ease labour in Turkishculture.9,10 The developed questionnaire was reviewedfor content validity by five nursing/midwifery faculty

members. Subsequent adjustments of the questionnairewere made accordingly and then approved by the facultymembers. Afterwards, the final questionnaire was thenpilot tested with 40 women who were not included in themain study. Based on the results, the questionnaire wasmodified in terms of comprehensibility and usability bythe researchers. Those who met the criteria and agreed toparticipate in the study were interviewed for 15–20 minby the researchers in the clinics of the sampled hospital.

Statistical analysisThe data were coded and entered into a database. Printedfrequencies were used to check for outliers and to cleandata. The data were cleaned accordingly and thenexported to the SPSS version 11.5 (SPSS, Chicago, IL,USA) for analysis. Then, the frequency distribution ofdependent (knowledge and application of traditional prac-tices) and independent variables (age of women, educa-tion status of women, birthplace of women, partners’education level) were calculated. The chi-square test wasused in this study to assess the associations between thetwo dependent variables and independent variables ofinterest. The comparison groups represent different levelsof the independent variables. Responses about thewomen’s knowledge of traditional practices to ease labourand other variables were compared, and a P-value of 0.05was used as the significant level.

Ethical considerationsPrior to beginning the research, the institutional reviewboard approval was obtained from Mersin University Hos-pital, School of Health and Department for Nursing. Theethics committee of the hospital also approved the studybefore the data were gathered. Verbal and writtenconsent was obtained from all of the participants beforebeginning the data collection.

RESULTSThe mean age of these women was 28.9 � 8.33 years(min = 15, max = 74), 49.4% were between 20 and 29years of age and 13.6% were high school graduates.Almost half (45.4%) of the women’s places of birth werein the city, and 72.6% were living in a nuclear family.Nearly half of the women (48.4%) stated that their ageat the time of marriage was under the age of 19. Themean age of marriage was 20.3 � 4.25 years (min = 12,max = 42) (Table 1).

Traditional practices and labour 67


More than half (56.2%) of the participating womenhad had 1–2 pregnancies. The mean number of childrenwas 2.82 � 2.02 years of age (min = 1, max = 15)(Table 2). Sixty-five per cent of the women had prenatalcare; of those, 66.6% had prenatal care from midwives/nurses. More than half of the women (62.5%) had learnedtraditional practices from their relatives/friends.

The traditional practices used by women in labour havebeen categorized into two groups: religious practices andsuperstitious practices (Table 3). This study determinedthat most of traditional practices were religious practices.More than half (62.9%) of women stated that they prayedto God, 22.6% of the women attached amulets and 31%had drunk Zamzam (Holy water) to have an easier timeduring their labour. In this study, it was determined thatsuperstitious practices were also commonly used byTurkish women to ease labour. The best-known andapplied practices were found to be throwing forage tobirds and firing a gun next to the labouring woman. About10.8% of participating women stated that they hadthrown forages to birds to ease their labour pains. Elevenper cent of the women stated that they knew about leavingthe tap water running during their labour to ease theirlabour pains; among them only 5.4% stated they had usedthis practice.

In this study, it was found that some religious traditionalpractices were influenced by a woman’s age, the educa-tional level of a woman’s partner and the residential area

Table 1 Sociodemographic characteristics of the participants

(n = 809)

Characteristics n %

Age, years19 and younger 87 10.820–29 400 49.430–39 233 28.840 and older 89 11.0

Marital statusMarried 795 98.3Widowed/lives alone 14 1.7

Educational statusIlliterate 171 21.1Literate 84 10.4Primary school 419 51.8High school 106 13.1University 29 3.6

Partner’s educationIlliterate 50 6.2Literate 70 8.7Primary school 492 60.8High school 138 17.0University 59 7.3

BirthplaceCity 367 45.4County 267 32.4Village 180 22.2

Place lived in for a long timeCity 464 57.4County 210 26.0Village 135 16.6

Family typeNuclear family 587 72.6Traditional family 222 27.4

Age at the time of marriage, years15–19 392 48.420–25 317 39.136–30 81 10.031 and older 19 2.5

Table 2 Pregnancy characteristics

n %

Number of pregnancies1–2 455 56.23–4 224 27.75 and more 130 16.1

Number of living children1–2 562 69.53–4 173 21.45 and more 74 9.1

Status of receiving antenatal care† (n = 520)Yes 520 64.3No 289 35.7

Prenatal care provider† (n = 520)Midwife/nurse 347 66.7Doctor 173 33.3

Knowledge related to LamazeYes 169 32.5No 351 67.5

Information source from which women

learned traditional practicesRelatives/friends 506 62.5TV, Internet, books, newspaper 303 37.5

† Women who received prenatal care answered the question.

68 D Yılmaz et al.


the woman lived in. Religious traditional practices to facili-tate the action of the birth such as ‘The woman is encour-aged to pray’ and ‘The woman is encouraged to drink holywater during her labour’ were known and used mostly bywomen who were at an advanced age (P < 0.05). It wasdetermined that encouraging women to pray to ease theirlabour pains was more common among women who wereolder (P < 0.05) and who were living in the rural areas(P < 0.05). Drinking holy water during labour was knownand applied most commonly by women (60.7%) who wereover 40 years of age (P < 0.05). This practice was alsoapplied most commonly by women (35.6%) whose birth-place was in a village (P < 0.05) (Table 4).

It was determined that the application and knowledgestatus of superstitious practices of ‘leaving the tap waterrunning’, ‘jumping in front of the doorway’ and ‘looseningthe woman’s braided hair’ were increased as the womenaged (P < 0.05). These practices were found to be knownand applied mostly by women whose birthplace was in avillage (P < 0.05). Superstitious traditional practices tofacilitate the action of the birth such as ‘opening the lock’were known and used mostly by women who were at anadvanced age (P < 0.05), who were illiterate (P < 0.05)and whose birthplace was in a village (P < 0.05) (Table 5).

DISCUSSION

In Turkey, religious beliefs and practices were found to bethe most commonly used traditional practices in order toease labour. In Turkish culture, it is believed that theKoran (Holy book of Muslims) is curative so beliefs arefound such as ‘reading the Holy Koran verses into water’and patients’ drinking the water in order to facilitatehealing.17 Studies mostly from eastern countries statedthat some traditional practices to ease labour, such as‘putting the holy Koran over one’s head’ or ‘drinkingHoly water (Zamzam) in Muslim countries, are thought tohave a healing effect on the various systems of the humanbody.17,18 The findings of this study reports similar find-ings that religious practices such as praying in the name ofGod and drinking Holy water (Zamzam) during labourwere the commonly reported traditional practices amongTurkish women for their easy delivery of the baby. Astudy by Ozsoy and Katabi indicated that almost half of theTurkish women used traditional practices to facilitatelabour, such as ‘praying in the name of God’ and ‘makingthe ritual call for prayer. Several studies in Muslim coun-tries around the world have reported that the use of Holywater is believed to help open the birth canal to ease

Table 3 Status of application and knowledge of women related to traditional practices to ease labour (n = 809)

Knowledge status Application status

Know Do not know Apply Do not apply

n % n % n % n %

Religious traditional practicesPassing under Holy Qur’an 390 48.2 419 51.8 198 24.5 611 75.5Praying in the name of God 558 69.0 251 31.0 509 62.9 300 37.1Drinking Zamzam (Holy water) water 340 42.0 469 58.0 251 31.0 558 69.0Attaching amulets 283 35.0 526 65.0 183 22.6 626 77.4

Superstitious traditional practicesLeave the tap water running 90 11.1 719 88.9 44 5.4 765 94.6Skipping in front of the doorway 93 11.5 716 88.5 35 4.3 774 95.7Loosing the woman’s braided hair 107 13.2 702 86.8 46 5.7 763 94.3Opening the lock 91 11.2 718 88.8 32 4.0 777 96.0Sharpening the knives 82 10.1 727 89.9 43 5.3 766 94.7Feeding the birds 106 13.1 703 86.9 87 10.8 722 89.2Firing a shot next to labouring woman 280 34.6 529 65.4 233 28.8 576 71.2Shaking the woman with a blanket 92 11.4 717 88.6 36 4.4 773 95.6



labour, therefore that Holy water is not unique to Turkishwomen.6,15,18–21 A study from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia,reported that women drink water that has been blessedwith sacred words known as ‘Nam Mon’, take a bath withthis water or put it on the abdomen in order to experiencean easier childbirth.8

The results of the study show that wearing an amulet isalso another strong religious practice among Turkishwomen. In Turkish culture, the amulet is believed toprotect against accidents and tribulation and used toachieve success. The reason for using it during a woman’spregnancy and birth is to facilitate labour and enable deliv-

ery to be painless and successful without enduring anyproblems. This practice is recognized in other Islamiccountries, not only in Turkey.18,20,22

Superstitious beliefs are also commonly used as tradi-tional practices are in Turkey to ease labour. In this study,superstitious practices were examined in two categories:harmless superstitious beliefs and superstitious beliefs thatcould be harmful. ‘Untying knots’, ‘leaving the tap waterrunning’, ‘loosening the woman’s braided hair’, ‘openingthe lock’ and ‘feeding the birds’ are commonly knownharmless superstitious practices. Similar findings have alsobeen described in several studies.6,15,18 Certain traditional

Table 4 Status of application and knowledge of women related to traditional religious practices to ease labour according to some

characteristics of women (n = 809)

‘Praying in the name of God’ ‘Drinking Zamzam (Holy water) water’

Knowledge status Application status Knowledge status Application status

Know Don’t know Apply Don’t apply Know Don’t know Apply Don’t apply

n % n % n % n % n % n % n % n %

Age, years19 and younger 48 55.2 39 44.8 44 50.6 43 49.4 19 21.8 68 78.2 14 16.1 73 83.920–29 267 66.8 133 33.2 244 61.0 156 39.0 165 41.2 235 58.8 118 29.5 282 70.530–39 169 72.5 64 27.5 153 65.7 80 34.3 102 43.8 131 56.2 78 33.5 155 66.540 and older 74 83.1 15 16.9 68 76.4 21 23.6 54 60.7 35 39.3 41 46.1 48 53.9

c2 = 18.400, P < 0.05 c2 = 14.004, P < 0.05 c2 = 27.646, P < 0.05 c2 = 19.565, P < 0.05Educational status

Illiterate 126 73.7 45 26.3 116 67.8 55 32.2 91 53.2 80 46.8 64 37.4 107 62.6Literate 68 81.0 16 19.0 61 72.6 23 27.4 33 39.3 51 60.7 27 32.1 57 67.9Primary school 282 67.3 137 32.7 260 62.1 159 37.9 168 40.1 251 59.9 126 30.1 293 69.9High school 64 60.4 42 39.6 58 54.7 48 45.3 38 35.8 68 64.2 29 27.4 77 72.6University 18 62.1 11 37.9 14 48.3 15 51.7 10 34.5 19 65.5 5 17.2 24 83.8

c2 = 12.258, P < 0.05 c2 = 11.016, P > 0.05 c2 = 12.026, P < 0.05 c2 = 6.742, P < 0.05Partner’s educational status

Illiterate 39 78.0 11 22.0 33 66.0 17 34.0 27 54.0 23 46.0 16 32.0 34 68.0Literate 53 75.7 17 24.3 51 72.9 19 27.1 39 55.7 31 44.3 33 47.1 37 52.9Primary school 340 69.1 152 30.9 312 63.4 180 36.6 202 41.1 290 58.9 148 30.1 344 69.9High school 90 65.2 48 34.8 82 59.4 56 40.6 54 39.1 84 60.9 44 31.9 94 68.1University 36 61.0 23 39.0 31 52.5 28 47.5 18 30.5 41 69.5 10 16.9 49 83.1

c2 = 6.049, P < 0.05 c2 = 6.665, P < 0.05 c2 = 12.202, P < 0.05 c2 = 14.235, P < 0.05Birthplace

City 241 65.7 126 34.3 214 58.3 153 41.7 143 39.0 224 61.0 100 27.2 267 72.8County 184 70.2 78 29.8 174 66.4 88 33.6 111 42.4 151 57.6 87 33.2 175 66.8Village 133 73.9 47 26.1 121 67.2 59 32.8 86 47.8 94 52.2 64 35.6 116 64.4

c2 = 4.100, P < 0.05 c2 = 6.139, P < 0.05 c2 = 3.868, P < 0.05 c2 = 4.756, P < 0.05

70 D Yılmaz et al.


Tabl

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Stat

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appl

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ion

and

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wom

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late

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relig

ious

supe

rstit

ious

prac

tices

toea

sela

bour

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stic

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wom

en(n

=80

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ving

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ing

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ont

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ay’

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sing

the

wom

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peni

ngth

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Age

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10.3

89.7

5.7

94.3

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90.8

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96.6

13.8

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90.8

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.171

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694

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c2=

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Educ

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tatu

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Illite

rate

171

19.3

80.7

10.5

89.5

18.7

81.3

9.4

90.6

21.6

78.4

11.7

88.3

17.5

82.5

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696

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Prim

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395

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195

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106

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96.6

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82.8

3.4

96.6

13.8

86.2

3.4

96.6

c2=

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99,

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0.05

c2=

12.5

37,

P<

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241,

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138

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92.0

2.9

97.1

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95.7

12.3

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94.9

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97.1

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91.5

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13.6

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0.05

c2=

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96.7

8.7

91.3

2.7

97.3

Cou

nty

262

8.0

92.0

4.6

95.4

10.3

89.7

4.6

95.4

11.1

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practices might be dangerous for women such as ‘jumpingfrom a high place’, ‘shooting a shotgun’ and ‘shaking thewoman with a blanket’. Jumping from a high place isbelieved to help child to leave the uterus and, thus, enablethe fast and easy delivery of the baby. Although thesepractices were believed to help ease labour amongTurkish women, they could carry the risk of physical harmto the baby and mother. It is also believed that ‘firing agun’ next to the labouring women will help the child tocome out quickly, as the child might feel afraid of thesudden noise. Firing a gun could potentially increase therisk of being shot with a gun or doing harm to someoneelse.6,15 Therefore, health professionals working withpregnant women should be aware of the dangerous tradi-tional practices and educate women about the harmfuleffects of these practices. The women should be advisednot to use these practices such as shooting a shotgun andjumping from a high place.

A relationship was found between the traditionalknowledge and application and the demographic charac-teristics of women. It was found that some traditionalpractices were influenced by the women’s age andresidential area. For example, ‘leaving the tap waterrunning’, ‘jumping in front of the doorway’ and ‘loosen-ing the woman’s braided hair’ were more common at anadvanced age and women living in rural areas. Studies alsoreported similar findings that traditional practices wereknown and applied mostly by the women who were at anadvanced age, less educated and who lived in ruralareas.16,23 Women learn traditional practices from theirfamily

In this study, it was found that as women become moreeducated, they are less likely to use and apply traditionalpractices to ease labour pains. Similar conclusions havebeen reported in several studies15,17,23

CONCLUSION AND IMPLICATIONSFOR NURSING PRACTICE

Our study suggests that many religious and superstitioustraditional practices to ease labour continue to existalongside the modern medicine in Turkey. The religiousand cultural values of the Turkish women have a signifi-cant impact on their health status and pregnancy. In manycountries, nurses are recognized as the first contacthealth-care provider for women who need care. Thus, it isimportant for nurses to be knowledgeable about thewomen’s culture and sensitive to each woman’s culturalbeliefs and religion to give culturally competent care. The

provision of culturally competent care requires a commit-ment by the individual nurse to develop, refine and usespecific skills in the care of women and newborns.

The participating women in the study reported harmfulpractices. In order to prevent the use of harmful tradi-tional practices, nurses could design prenatal classes thatallow the women to participate and discuss the subject oflabour and delivery. The woman and her partner shouldbe encouraged to attend prenatal classes to avoid harmfulpractices.

In this study, it was found that some religious tradi-tional methods were influenced by the woman’s age, theeducational level of the woman’s partner, and the resi-dential area the woman lived in. Nurses should pay specialattention to less educated, older women from rural areas.They should assess mothers and their use of traditionalpractices and enable them to reinforce positive culturalpractices and discourage them from using harmful ones.

In addition, knowledge about traditional practices toease labour should be added into courses in maternal andchild health, community health and health promotion fornursing students in their undergraduate and graduatecourses.

Future research is needed to gain more knowledgeabout how to develop culturally sensitive programmes ofcare that incorporate knowledge of traditional practices.A longitudinal study might be useful to assess the compli-cations of traditional practices.

STUDY LIMITATIONSThe study has several limitations. First, this study isdesigned as a cross-sectional study with a large samplesize. It includes all the limitations of a cross-sectionalstudy including selection bias because of differential par-ticipation. Second, this study relies on the possibility ofretrospective recall of traditional practices. Moreover,the restriction of the data to one hospital only in the southpart of Turkey limits the generalizability of the results.

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Documents

Determination of the use of traditional practices to ease labour among Turkish women