Jadhav Arvind Santu, Govil Dipti
International Institute for Population Sciences (IIPS), Mumbai, India.
Front Reprod Health. 2023 Oct 25;5:1115643. doi: 10.3389/frph.2023.1115643. eCollection 2023.
The tribal culture views health care practices differently from the mainstream. Infertile tribal women practice treatment-seeking behaviour that reflects the community's cultural access to and availability of treatment as well as customs to meet their health care needs. In the environment of rising awareness of infertility and numerous treatment options, this study aims to highlight the infertility treatment-seeking behaviour of tribal communities.
The study employed a mix methods approach to collect data from 153 tribal couples suffering with infertility (interview schedule) and the community (in-depth interviews-14 and focus group discussions-12). The data was analyzed using Stata 13.0, and NVivo 10. Results of the quantitative data were triangulated with qualitative data for writing.
Many treatment options were available for infertility in the community. Generally, traditional healers (98.7%) were preferred over modern healthcare practitioners (35%). Community members usually guided infertile couples for choosing providers. Treatment practices were very different among primary infertile women than sub-fertile. Women frequently discontinued treatment and switched between providers because of unaffordability, poor connectivity, distance, travel time, time constraints, and non-supportive circumstances. The couples were advised to consume herbs, and eat or avoid certain food items, were given massage, burns on the abdomen , removed black blood () and other various rituals to appease spirits, get rid of ghosts while offering animal sacrifice, and conducting The mean expenditure on treatment was INR 18,374. If treatment did not yield any result, couple resorted to add another wife, divorce, accept childlessness and foster a child.
Local authorities should strive to work towards the socio-economic development of the tribal communities and provide good healthcare services at their doorstep. The infertility problem needs to be understood in the context of poverty, tribal beliefs, and unequal access to healthcare resources.
部落文化对医疗保健实践的看法与主流文化不同。不育的部落女性采取寻求治疗的行为，这反映了社区在文化上对治疗的接受程度、可获得性以及满足其医疗保健需求的习俗。在不孕意识不断提高且有众多治疗选择的环境下，本研究旨在突出部落社区寻求不孕治疗的行为。
本研究采用混合方法，从153对患有不孕症的部落夫妇（访谈提纲）以及社区（14次深入访谈和12次焦点小组讨论）收集数据。使用Stata 13.0和NVivo 10对数据进行分析。定量数据的结果与定性数据进行三角互证以撰写论文。
社区中有许多治疗不孕的选择。一般来说，传统治疗师（98.7%）比现代医疗从业者（35%）更受青睐。社区成员通常会指导不孕夫妇选择医疗服务提供者。原发性不孕女性和亚不孕女性的治疗方式差异很大。由于费用负担不起、交通不便、距离远、出行时间长、时间限制以及环境不支持等原因，女性经常中断治疗并更换医疗服务提供者。夫妇们被建议食用草药、食用或避免某些食物，接受按摩、腹部灼烧、排出黑血（）以及进行其他各种仪式来安抚神灵、驱鬼，同时进行动物祭祀，并进行……治疗的平均支出为18374印度卢比。如果治疗没有任何效果，夫妇们会采取再娶一个妻子、离婚、接受无子女状态并收养一个孩子的做法。
地方当局应努力促进部落社区的社会经济发展，并在其家门口提供良好的医疗服务。需要在贫困、部落信仰以及医疗资源获取不平等的背景下理解不孕问题。
