Learning strengths from cultural differences: a comparative study of maternal health-related behaviors and infant care among Southern Asian immigrants and Taiwanese women

Abstract

BackgroundMany studies have indicated that most immigrant women come from underdeveloped countries, and this can have negative effects on their lives, children’s adaptation to school, and medical care utilization. However, there is insufficient literature about differences in infant caretaking, pre-postpartum health care, and health outcome between immigrant and native Taiwanese populations. The aim of this study was to investigate the differences between Southern Asia immigrants and Taiwanese women in their access to medical care, postnatal growth, and infant care throughout the first six months postpartum.MethodsComparative and descriptive designs were applied. Immigrant women were eligible if they visited three suburban settings of the Outpatient Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology and the Outpatient Department of Pediatrics in Northern Taiwan during the period up to six months postpartum.ResultsImmigrant women appeared to have a lower frequency of antenatal examinations and obtained less health information from health care providers. However, they did not differ significantly from native Taiwanese women in maternal body size, postnatal growth curves, exclusive breastfeeding rates or vaccination awareness at the 6th month postpartum.ConclusionsLearning strengths from cultural differences between immigrant and native women and closing the gaps in health inequality are important issues. Despite the limitation of small sample size, the present findings can be used as references to help health care providers to develop further health policies in Taiwan.

Analysis and Mapping of Scientific Literature on Cross-Cultural Adaptation of Global Immigrants (1963–2022)

“…A considerable quantity of articles highly related to this cluster of keywords care about how immigrants throughout the world integrate into host countries and related issues in the midst of their integration (Bohning, 1991; Jones & Findlay, 1998; Pieterse, 2000). Furthermore, a number of articles conduct comparative studies on immigrants’ integration in different countries (Chen et al, 2013; Jöns et al, 2007; Slonim-Nevo et al, 2007). This may indicate that the comparison-based approach has been widely adopted in the field of ICCA research except for the frequently-used empirical approach.…”