Ancient customs and practices for the care of pregnant tseltal women

Section: Originals

How to quote

Pérez Pérez GC, Godínez Rodríguez MA. Costumbres y prácticas ancestrales en el cuidado de la mujer tseltal embarazada. Metas Enferm sep 2019; 22(7):49-55.

Authors

Guadalupe Catalina Pérez Pérez1, María de los Ángeles Godínez Rodríguez2

Position

1Maestra en Enfermería por la Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México. Maestra en Enfermería. Enfermera. Hospital de la Mujer. Chiapas (México)2Doctora en Enfermería por la Universidad de Trujillo (Perú). Profesora asociada de tiempo completo. Universidad Nacional Autónoma de México

Contact address

Guadalupe Catalina Pérez Pérez. Avda. Benito Juárez, 4. San Felipe Ecatepec. 29300 San Cristóbal de las Casas. Chiapas (México).

Contact email: catalinaperez.maestria@gmail.com

Abstract

Objective: to analyze the ancient customs and practices regarding the care of tseltal pregnant women, from three Chilon communities (Chiapas, Mexico).
Method: a qualitative, ethnographic, descriptive study. This research was conducted in South East Mexico, in the state of Chiapas, with a group of pregnant tseltal women, from three communities in the Tulija, Tseltal and Chol regions. These are native communities still ruled by uses and practices; therefore, the profile of midwives was essential, because an approach to pregnant women was possible through their consent and approval as community leaders. The technique used for collecting information was semi-structured interviews. Discourse analysis allowed to highlight concepts and assign codes in order to generate categories and subcategories.
Results: seven pregnant women were recruited, within the 17-to-42 age range and on their 20th to 38th week of pregnancy; 100% of them belonged to the tseltal ethnic group. Two categories emerged within the discourse analysis: “Beliefs and practices during pregnancy”, and “The midwife, a wise woman in pregnancy care”.
Conclusions: pregnant tseltal women have their own ancient practices of care: they won’t only look after the physical body, but also try to keep in balance with nature, emotions and spirit. Care is based upon preventive practices. According to their worldview, the study of this knowledge and practices integrated in the pregnant tseltal woman creates awareness about the action of the nursing staff in order to improve cultural skills.

Keywords:

Pregnancy; culture; customs; native cultureethnic groups

Versión en Español

Título:

Costumbres y prácticas ancestrales en el cuidado de la mujer tseltal embarazada