Quilombola midwives’ and women’s care practices in the light of interpretative anthropology

Abstract

Objective: To analyze the Quilombola popular knowledge about the care practices adopted at prenatal, childbirth and postpartum from the perspective of Quilombola midwives and women. Methods: This is a qualitative study carried out in a traditional community of Quilombola remnants in the Sertão Produtivo of the State of Bahia, located in the countryside of Northeastern Brazil, with 12 women – two midwives and ten women whose childbirth was assisted by one of the two midwives of the community – using a semi-structured interview questionnaire in February 2014. Data were analyzed with the aid of Interpretive Anthropology. The analysis yielded three categories: cultural care practices at prenatal, cultural care practices at childbirth, and cultural care practices at postpartum. Results: The first and second categories revealed that both postpartum women and midwives used manual maneuvers to stimulate contractions in pregnant women and to help in the proper positioning of the fetus to avoid complications. In the third category, the interviewees reported that midwives encouraged sitz baths with plants and herbs and the use of natural teas to avoid infections and postpartum hemorrhages. Conclusion: The cultural practices (maneuvers during delivery, teas, prayers to nature deities, sitz baths with herbs and leaves) reported by the study participants, which are passed from generation to generation, are important for the health of quilombola women who experience the pregnancy and postpartum cycle and should be valued by the team of health professionals.