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. 2020 Mar;31(2):144-152.
doi: 10.1177/1043659619854525. Epub 2019 Jun 11.

Maternal Health Beliefs, Perceptions, and Experiences in a U.S. Marshallese Community

Britni L Ayers  1 , Rachel S Purvis  1 , Williamina Ioanna Bing  1 , Mandy Ritok  1 , Anita Iban  2 , Lucy Capelle  3 , Nicola L Hawley  4 , Rebecca Delafield  5 , Pearl A McElfish  1
Affiliations

Maternal Health Beliefs, Perceptions, and Experiences in a U.S. Marshallese Community

Britni L Ayers et al. J Transcult Nurs. 2020 Mar.

Abstract

Introduction: The purpose of this article is to review the beliefs, perceptions, and experience of maternal health among Marshallese women. Methodology: The study utilized a qualitative descriptive design with a brief survey of participant demographics. A purposive sample of 43 participants were enrolled. Results: The mean age of participants was 40 years. Four a priori themes were identified as follows: (a) family planning beliefs and experiences, (b) prenatal beliefs and experiences, (c) birthing beliefs and experiences, and (d) postpartum beliefs and experiences. Discussion: This study identified beliefs, perceptions, and experiences among Marshallese that have implications for policy and practice related to culturally congruent health care for Marshallese mothers.

Keywords: Marshallese; Pacific Islanders; community-based participatory research; focus groups; maternal health.

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Conflict of interest statement

Declaration of Conflicting Interests

The author(s) declared no potential conflicts of interest with respect to the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article.

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