Table 2.
Interpretation of pregnancy complications and remedies
| Category (Cause) | Subcategory (Sub-cause) | Theme (perceived causes) | N = 42 (%) | Theme (perceived remedies) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Individual causes | Physical activities | Doing heavy duties | 25(60%) | Avoid doing heavy duties |
| Having sexual intercourse during pregnancy | 10(24%) | Abstain from sexual intercourse during pregnancy | ||
| Idling | 9(21%) | Do light duties | ||
| Standing or peeping at the door/window way | 6(14%) | Either walk out quickly or stay | ||
| Running or walking long distances | 5(12%) | Avoid running and long walks | ||
| Oversleeping | 4(10%) | Avoid over sleeping | ||
| Boarding a motorbike | 2(5%) | Avoid using motor bikes | ||
| Sitting and sleeping style | 2(5%) | Sit with legs straight, Sleep on the side, not on back | ||
| Dress code | 2(5%) | Avoid dressing accessories around the body including necklace, belts or clothes with bands around the waist | ||
| Diet | Eating restricted food (eggs, avocado, meat, oily food, fresh milk, cold ugali cold water, alcohol and cigarettes) | 41(98%) | Avoid restricted food | |
| Not eating recommended food and herbal medicine (traditional vegetables, milk, liver, ugali) | 41(98%) | Eat recommended food | ||
| Use herbal medicine | ||||
| Natural Causes | Sickness and hereditary complications | Severe cramps during menses | 8(19%) | Seek herbal treatment |
| Wrong foetal presentation | 3(7%) | Seek TBA care to turn the foetus | ||
| Malaria | 2(5%) | Take preventive herbal remedies | ||
| Only take prescribed drugs | ||||
| Amount of hair and sex of the foetus | 2(5%) | Seek TBA advice/treatment | ||
| Yellow fever | 1(2%) | Seek herbal treatment | ||
| Social world | Getting in contact with dangerous people | Contact with a woman who had an abortion, or whose child died recently, or who had a wrong foetal presentation during birth, multiple births or who develops severe cramps during menses, or who have evil eyes | 10(24%) | Reduce movements |
| Avoid going to public places | ||||
| Use protective herbs | ||||
| Social relations | Quarrelling with/abusing someone | 5(12%) | Maintain peaceful relations | |
| Confession and repentance | ||||
| Made to cry or stressed | 2(5%) | Avoid emotional events | ||
| Super natural causes | Evil spirits | Eating meat of a “misfortune animal” | 16(38%) | Avoid eating “evil meat” |
| Killing an animal | 12(29%) | Avoid killing any animal | ||
| An animal crossing your way or meeting two snakes on your way | 3(7%) | End the journey whenever one meets world animal, mostly a snake, on the way | ||
| Gods | Laughing at a deformed person | 8(19%) | Do not lough at a deformed person | |
| Ancestral spirits | Viewing or burying a dead person | 11 (26%) | Avoid burials | |
| Do not view a dead body | ||||
| A relative committed evil actions towards the ancestor | 4 (10%) | Conduct a reconciliation ritual |