Displaced maternity: pregnancy, voluntary abortion and women’s health for immigrant women in Portugal

Authors

  • Cristianne Maria Famer Rocha Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul - UFRGS
  • Camilo Darsie Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul - UFRGS
  • Vivian Costa da Silva Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul - UFRGS
  • Ana Paula Messa Koetz Universidade Federal do Rio Grande do Sul - UFRGS -
  • Ana Filipa Gama Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical & CMDT
  • Sónia Ferreira Dias Instituto de Higiene e Medicina Tropical & CMDT

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.5020/3123

Keywords:

Emigration and Immigration, Women’s Health, Abortion, Health Promotion.

Abstract

Objective: To identify issues related to topics such as maternity, pregnancy, voluntary abortion and women’s health from the perspective of Brazilian and African immigrants living in Portugal. Methods: This is an exploratory and descriptive study with a qualitative approach, held in Portugal between May and June 2008, with 35 immigrant women (from Brazil and the Portuguese-speaking African countries - Lusophone Africa or PALOP). Information was collected through a sociodemographic questionnaire and focus group conduction. Data was analyzed according to the common procedure of content analysis. Two categories of analysis emerged: 1) Pregnancy and Maternity and 2) Voluntary Abortion. Results: The research included 15 Brazilian and 20 African, aged between 21 and 45 years. Brazilian participants refer to possess higher educational level compared to African women. In general, both women go through various difficulties regarding issues involving pregnancy, maternity and voluntary abortion, especially sociocultural differences faced by the country in which they live. Conclusion: It is necessary the adoption of a social model of positive health, focused on the individuals’ and the population needs and, as far as possible, adapted to their specificities. In this sense, it is relevant that models are developed to promote the immigrant participation in the development of actions for health promotion in this area. doi:http://dx.doi.org/10.5020/18061230.2013.p470

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Published

2014-09-05

How to Cite

Famer Rocha, C. M., Darsie, C., Silva, V. C. da, Koetz, A. P. M., Gama, A. F., & Dias, S. F. (2014). Displaced maternity: pregnancy, voluntary abortion and women’s health for immigrant women in Portugal. Brazilian Journal in Health Promotion, 26(4), 470–479. https://doi.org/10.5020/3123

Issue

Vol. 26 No. 4 (2013)

Section

Original Articles

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